True Friend
by dorawarrior
Summary: Doraemon finally decides to turn Nobita's life around and a series of events happen that would test their bonds of friendship - Chapter 15 up. Takes place from childhood to adulthood. WARNING: This is not a typical Doraemon fic -COMPLETE-
1. Prologue

hey...i've been wanting to write a long Doraemon fic for some time now...here's the start...

* * *

Doraemon eagerly ate the dorayaki before him, oblivious to his sister's and Sewashi's stares.

Dorami was looking uncomfortable and worried. Sewashi looked unhealthy for a boy his age and right now, his face was expressionless.

After he was done, he looked at them with a huge smile on his face. Dorami smiled back tentatively but Sewashi's face remained impassive.

"So, why the sudden invitation?" asked Doraemon contentedly.

"Oh, nothing oni-san, just a friendly gathering," answered Dorami. "How's Nobita-kun?"

"Oh, the same as always: complaining about something or other, always pestering me for help, sleeping around and not studying…"

As Doraemon continued, Sewashi's face grew more and more agitated.

"Doraemon," he said at last. "You're not doing your job."

Doraemon stopped in mid-sentence. "Excuse me?"

Sewashi sighed.

"What was the reason I sent you back to the past?" he asked.

"To help Nobita-kun…" answered Doraemon, not comprehending.

"…in order to help us," finished Sewashi. "You're not doing that now."

Doraemon stood up indignantly.

"I helped Nobita-kun a lot of times…" he began but was interrupted by Sewashi.

"You're doing nothing but spoiling him," he said. "He's a lot worse than he was before. Last time he'd do his work. Badly, sloppily and incorrectly perhaps, but now he couldn't even be bothered to try because he keeps asking for your help. It's not just his studies, it's everything he does. He's become dependant on you or rather your pocket. You're making him worse."

Doraemon was stunned. He knew that Nobita was always helpless, but now that he thought about it…

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

Sewashi stood up.

"We need you to be firm with him," he said. "If you won't discipline him, then at least refuse to aid him in matters that you know he can handle himself."

"But...what if Gian bullies him?" asked Doraemon.

"Then he has to learn to stand up for himself," replied Sewashi. "You're standing up for him too much."

"But if Suneo belittles him with the things he doesn't have…" began Doraemon.

"…then he has to learn to that he couldn't have everything he wants," finished Sewashi, his eyes hardening. "I did."

"What about Shizuka?" asked Doraemon.

"Nobita-kun will have to impress her by being himself rather than with the items you coddle him with," answered Sewashi.

Doraemon looked down, uncertain.

"Oni-san," said Dorami, walking forward. "Please understand that this is for his own good just as much as it is for ours. Nobita-kun has to be independent and successful and he can't do that if you continue to baby him."

"But he needs me…" said Doraemon softly.

"We're not telling to you not to help him anymore," said Sewashi in a kinder voice. "But we suggest that you stop helping him directly. Help him in more subtle ways so that he can learn to do things himself instead of depending on your gadgets."

"I see…" said Doraemon. Straightening up, the cat robot looked at them both.

"I know that I was wrong before. I won't repeat my mistakes."

With that, Doraemon left to return to the twentieth century.

Dorami and Sewashi watched him go.

"I hope it'll be all right," said Dorami anxiously. "His friendship with Nobita-kun means a lot to him."

"Nobita-kun is already taking his friendship for granted," said Sewashi tiredly. "If he can't see that everything Doraemon is and will be doing is all for him, then he doesn't deserve Doraemon's friendship."

Dorami was silent. She didn't have to say anything to that. She knew it was true.

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a little taster...i'll update this soon enough...pls tell me what you think...

to my Death Note readers...don't worry...this won't interfere with the updating of A Little More in Common...


	2. Chapter 1

here's the next chapter...i'm taking my time updating this one...since few ppl read doraemon anyway...enjoy...

* * *

Nobita ran home as fast as he could. He had a test tomorrow and he knew he was going to flunk it. But then, he had Doraemon.

He knew he could get the cat robot's help. Maybe he would ask for the computer pen? Maybe the Memory Bread? The possibilities were endless.

He quickly bolted up the stairs and burst through the door of his room.

"Doraemon!"

The cat-robot looked up from where he sat. There was a funny look on his face but Nobita didn't notice.

"Doraemon, I have a math test tomorrow!" he whined as he threw his bag onto the floor. "I'm going to fail! Please, can you give me any gadgets to help me score full marks?"

Doraemon looked at Nobita long and hard before sighing. But, to Nobita's shock, instead of pulling out a gadget, he got up and went into the cupboard the he used as his bed and shut the door.

Nobita stared for awhile, mouth wide open. Then, he recovered and proceeded to bang on the cupboard door.

"Doraemon! Doraemon! What's wrong?" he cried as he pummeled the door. "You're not well? Are you going to help me?"

There was no answer.

"Doraemon!" cried Nobita.

Still no answer.

"Doraemon…" said Nobita softly.

Suddenly, the door slid open a little. Nobita's eyes widened hopefully but then, a few books were pushed through the opening and fell to the floor. The door then slid shut.

Nobita picked up the books and saw that they were Math revision books. He threw them down again and started to knock on the door again.

"Doraemon! This isn't what I need!" he cried. "I need one of your gadgets!"

Silence was the only answer he got.

He sighed with frustration and went to take a nap.

DDDDDD

Nobita was now growing frantic. He had thought sulking would get Doraemon to help but the cat-robot didn't even answer. He had tried to bribe Doraemon with dorayaki but still got no response.

His failure was assured.

He went to his desk and sat there quietly, contemplating the horrors that awaited him tomorrow.

Suddenly, the set of Math revision books were placed in front of him on the desk. Nobita looked up and saw Doraemon looking at him sadly.

"Why won't you help me?" asked Nobita sulkily.

Doraemon shook his head. "I am trying to help you, Nobita-kun."

"I'm no good at studying!" shouted Nobita. "I need your gadgets, not revision books!"

Doraemon gave him a hard look. "I'm not going to help you cheat."

"But it's the only way for me too…" began Nobita when suddenly, he received a hard blow across his face.

He onto his backside and looked up to see Doraemon glaring down at him.

"Why do you think so lowly of yourself?" cried Doraemon angrily. "You've scored a hundred before! You've gotten good grades before! You didn't use my gadgets then! You don't need my gadgets, Nobita-kun! You can do it if you really try!"

"But…" began Nobita.

"But nothing!" snapped Doraemon. "I know you can do it! I'm willing to help you, Nobita-kun. But first, you must be willing to help yourself!"

"Doraemon…" said Nobita softly.

He stood up and went to his desk. "Will you really help me if I try?"

Doraemon nodded. "Even if I have to stay up all night, I will."

Nobita shook his head, still uncertain that he could do it. But he decided that he'd better try. He took a revision book and began to study.

Behind him, Doraemon took out a gadget that looked like a small square gate with a knob on top. He turned the knob several times and placed it on the ground. It was the Time Gate, and Doraemon had just set time to move slowly so that Nobita would have more time to study.

Doraemon helped Nobita in the parts that he was weak in and helped reinforced what he already knew.

After a long night, Nobita soon fell asleep.

Doraemon looked through the exercises that Nobita did and smiled to himself.

He carried Nobita to his futon and placed a blanket over his charge.

"Good luck, Nobita-kun," he said softly before going to bed.

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there you have it...some changes are finally taking place...

by the way...to my Death Note readers...i'm stuck in a rut...pls give me some ideas...thanks...


	3. Chapter 2

here's the next chapter...

* * *

Doraemon paced up and down the room anxiously. He was waiting for Nobita to return home from the exams. He can't help but feel worried; he really hoped that Nobita did well…

"Doraemon!"

Doraemon turned and saw Nobita standing in front of him, panting as though he had just ran a mile. In his hand, he held his exam paper.

"How did you do?" asked Doraemon tentatively.

Wordlessly, Nobita handed the exam paper to him.

Doraemon looked at it.

On the top right corner, in red ink, was scrawled the number 77.

Doraemon lowered the paper and gave Nobita a huge smile but instead; found himself in the boy's embrace.

"It's not a hundred, but I manage to score that much!" cried Nobita excitedly. "Thank you so much, Doraemon!"

"Well done, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon. "You see, as long as you put in a lot of effort, you can do it!"

Nobita nodded happily.

Suddenly, the door opened and Nobita's mother walked in.

"What's all this noise?" she asked. Then, her eyes fell on the paper in Doraemon's hand.

"Is that the result for today's exam?" she asked sternly, quickly snatching it from him. She stared at the score on the paper.

Suddenly, she let out a screech and pulled Nobita into an embrace.

"Well done!" she cried as tears poured down her face. "Well done! I knew you could do it!"

She began to pull Nobita towards the door. "Let's go out and celebrate! We'll go and pick up your father from work and maybe we'll go and see a movie…"

Her voice trailed off as she and Nobita went down the stairs, leaving Doraemon behind.

Doraemon just stood there, smiling to himself quietly before it was replaced by a sad expression.

He knew that it was bound to happen, but it still saddened him.

It was his job to mold Nobita into a better person, but he also realised that the more that Nobita grew up, the less he would depend on him. Once Nobita was completely independent, Doraemon would become obsolete in Nobita's life.

The thought of not being needed stung Doraemon's heart.

But he would not let it deter him from his goal.

Doraemon wondered if he should follow Nobita and his mother for their celebration but decided against it. Nobita rarely got any show of affection from his own parents; he would not intrude on this precious moment.

When Nobita came home that night, chattering excitedly about the movie that he and his parents watched, Doraemon put on that big smile on his face and listened to him.

When Nobita finally fell asleep, Doraemon just sat beside Nobita.

He felt pride and sadness in his heart.

He was proud of Nobita, and wanted to help him grow further.

But at the same time, he was sad. The more Nobita grew, the more he would drift away from Doraemon.

Doraemon shook it off, and climbed into his closet to sleep.

He stared at the wall of the closet where he had pinned the exam paper.

Again, his heart welled with pride.

He slept with a smile on his face.

--

a lot of self reflection eh?


	4. Chapter 3

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. In that time, Nobita soon was able to do his homework without anyone telling him to and get a lot of the questions right. He was also scoring in the 70s to 80s mark in his exams regularly.

One day, he came back and finished his homework while Doraemon sat on the floor, reading a comic book. He looked up after awhile and saw that Nobita had finished his work.

"I'm done!" said the boy cheerfully, lying down on the floor.

Doraemon smiled. "That's good, Nobita-kun. Why don't you go out and play? It's not good for your body if you sleep too much."

"But it's such a nice weather to sleep…"answered Nobita, yawning.

"NOBITA!!"

Nobita and Doraemon jumped. Nobita quickly scrambled over to his window and looked out. His heart sank at what he saw.

It was Gian and Suneo in their baseball gear.

"We have a game today!" shouted Gian. "Get your gear and let's go! We have to win!"

He gave Nobita a look that clearly said 'or else'.

Nobita trembled from head to toe and quickly scrambled to go get his baseball gear.

"Do your best, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon anxiously as Nobita ran down the stairs.

DDDDD

Doraemon watched as the sky turned from a shade of bright blue to a golden red as the sun went down. Nobita should be arriving home soon.

He heard the door downstairs open and a heavy thud followed.

Doraemon quickly ran down to see Nobita sprawled in front of the door, his face a beaten and bloody mess.

"Nobita-kun!"

Doraemon quickly carried Nobita into the house and into the bathroom. He washed Nobita's bloody face and proceeded to bandage the boy's wounds. If it had been another person, they would have wondered who would have been responsible for such a brutal beating. But for Doraemon and Nobita's little world, there were no prizes for guessing who.

Takeshi Goda aka Gian.

Doraemon felt anger surge through him and wanted to take out one of his many gadgets to punish Gian for hurting his ward. But Sewashi's words were still fresh in his mind. He knew this was the next hurdle for Nobita to overcome, to stand up for himself with his own strength.

But how should he go about it?

Nobita was inherently a coward, preferring to run away when confronted rather than face it head on.

But as Doraemon delved deeper into his own thoughts, he realised that this was not true. There had been many times when Nobita had shown that courage he had deep down inside his heart. Like when they faced the underground Dinosaur civilization like when they had saved the Earth from global flooding from the Sky Kingdom, like when they had rushed to saved Pisuke from Dinosaur hunters…

As he tucked Nobita into bed, he realised that in those life-threatening moments, Nobita had shown no signs of fear. In order to protect those dear to him, Nobita had thrown his life into harm's way.

He was brave when it mattered.

But how would Doraemon get Nobita to dig that courage up so that he may face Gian without fear?

Doraemon thought long and hard all the way into the wee hours of the morning.

When the early rays of the sun came through the window, something occurred to him.

Hopping up and putting on the Take-copter, he flew out the window.

"I hope this works," thought Doraemon as he soared through the early morning sky of Japan.


	5. Chapter 4

It was a Sunday, so Nobita slept in. No one came to wake him up, which in itself was unusual. Soon, the sunlight pouring in through his window grew too intense to bear and he woke up.

"Doraemon?" he called out, looking around. There was no sign of the blue cat-robot anywhere.

Nobita went down for breakfast, greeting his mother.

"Ka-san, have you seen Doraemon?" he asked as he buttered his breads.

"No, I haven't seen him at all this morning," answered his mother as she scrubbed the pans.

Nobita wondered where his friend was. But then, someone knocked on the door and he went to answer.

"Ah, Shizu-chan!" he cried in surprise. "Ohayo!"

"Ohayo, Nobita-san," greeted Shizuka. "Do you want to go out and play?"

"Sure!" answered Nobita eagerly as he left the house, all thoughts of Doraemon fleeing his mind. He felt as though the day was going to be a good day.

Until he saw Suneo and Gian at the field where they always play.

His heart sank. Gian still seemed to be in a bad mood and Suneo was trying to calm him down.

"Maybe we shouldn't play here…" Nobita suggested.

"You're right," answered Shizuka, eyeing Gian.

However, Gian spotted them.

"NOBITA!" he shouted.

Nobita jumped about a metre into the air.

"Yesterday, we lost because of you!" roared Gian, rushing forward, fists raised.

"Eh? But you already beat me up for that!" cried Nobita as he scrambled to get away.

"You think that was beating you up?" snarled Gian as he reached Nobita. "I'll show you what being beaten up really is!"

Nobita dodged the flying fists and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, Gian hot on his heels.

In his panic, he took a wrong turning and ended up in a dead-end. He turned and saw Gian advancing on him menacingly, Suneo cackling in the background.

Gian raised one huge meaty fist and swung it at Nobita's face. Nobita closed his eyes, expecting to feel the fist crashing into his cheek and the agony that followed after.

It never came.

_What's going on?_

Nobita opened his eyes and saw Doraemon standing in front of him, blocking Gian's first.

"Doraemon," he cried in relief.

Gian however, had become eerily calm. "Step aside."

"Never," retorted Doraemon.

"Step aside and walk away," growled Gian. "This doesn't concern you."

"You're hurting my friend," answered Doraemon, straining to hold the powerful fist back. "Of course it concerns me."

Suddenly, Doraemon doubled over in pain. Suneo had just charged forward and kicked Doraemon in the stomach. Both of them proceeded to beat Doraemon up. Nobita watched, torn between wanting to run away and to help his best friend.

"I'm sorry, Doraemon," he whispered, and tried to sneak away when Doraemon cried out in pain.

The cry of pain stopped him.

Memories floated into his mind.

_Doraemon listening to his complaints._

_Doraemon looking after him when he was ill._

_Doraemon recklessly fighting a villain from the 23__rd__ century to save them._

_Doraemon going out into the rain to feed Pisuke when Nobita was too ill to do it._

_Doraemon comforting him every time he felt hurt when Shizuka did not notice him…_

He turned. "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

Gian and Suneo turned to face him. "Why should we?" sneered Suneo.

"This is Doraemon," shouted Nobita. "The one who looked out for us during our adventures! The one who saved us whenever we were in danger! Above all, he's our friend! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Both Gian and Suneo looked slightly uncomfortable.

But then, Gian grinned. "If he is your friend, why don't you come and save him?"

Nobita gulped, and took a step back.

Gian sneered. "You're all talk. You say we don't care about Doraemon, but you're no different. You wouldn't even help him out…"

As Gian railed on and on about Nobita having no spine and being a hypocrite, Suneo continued kicking at Doraemon.

Gian's words grated at Nobita's heart, for he knew they were true. Doraemon had helped him countless of times, and now when Doraemon needed him, Nobita was going to run away. He was not a true friend, unless…

With a sudden cry that surprised both Gian and Suneo, Nobita charged forward and swung his fist into Gian's face.

Gian grunted in pain and stumbled back. Nobita then rounded on Suneo, who was gaping at him, his mouth open with shock. Until Nobita closed it for him with a vicious uppercut.

Suneo was sent crashing to the ground, his mouth bleeding.

Nobita turned and found a huge meaty fist crashing into his face, sending him and his glasses their separate ways.

Gian straddled Nobita and proceeded to punch the boy below him. But then, Nobita somehow managed to catch one Gian's arms and bit it viciously. Gian howled in pain before Nobita threw another punch to the side of his head.

Gian rolled off and got back to his feet, just as Nobita got to his.

Both of them threw themselves at each other. Fists were exchanged, so were kicks and an occasional headbutt or bite.

Finally, Gian, weary, threw Nobita off him and lumbered off, not wanting to fight the determined boy anymore. Suneo quickly followed.

"Nobita-kun!" cried Doraemon as Nobita slumped against a wall. He pulled out the Dokodemo door and helped Nobita to his feet.

"Doraemon, are you all right?" asked Nobita softly as Doraemon helped him through the door.

Doraemon stared at Nobita as though the boy had just gone insane. "Baka, you're the one bleeding all over, and you're asking me that?"

Nobita chuckled a little before passing out.

Doraemon cleaned up the wounds and bandaged them before putting rolling out Nobita's futon and placing the boy on it. He then the used the Doctor's Bag to make sure that there weren't any broken bones or ruptured organs. Once he was done, he went through the Dokodemo door again.

He went to the field and saw Gian and Suneo both nursing their wounds.

He walked up to them and took the Doctor's Bag again.

"Thank you for your help," said Doraemon as he inspected both Gian and Suneo.

"I never thought that Nobita could hit so hard," whined Suneo, wincing when Doraemon accidentally touched a sore spot.

"Heh, you were right, Doraemon," said Gian, guffawing despite his own injuries. "Nobita can be a man in the right situation. Maybe he'll have a backbone now and can stand up for himself more…"

Gian trailed off, looking uncertain. "I'm not so sure that's a good thing…"

"Oh, be quiet," said Doraemon as he treated their wounds. "Did you have to hit him so hard?"

"Hey!" exclaimed Gian. "He got us pretty good! Besides, I was so into the fight that I didn't hold back. I think if I didn't, Nobita might have actually beaten me!"

Doraemon chuckled.

"Well, maybe he'll be much braver now," he said. "But you also have to learn to control your temper, Gian-kun."

"Oh, shut up…" grumbled Gian.

The three of them laughed.

As he treated their wounds, Doraemon thought that Nobita didn't really need a lesson to be brave. He was already brave. He just needed to be in the right situation. But then, Doraemon had not been too sure about that, so he had enlisted Gian and Suneo's help. He was right, Nobita would go to any lengths to defend his friends, but he wouldn't do nuts to defend himself.

_Although, _Doraemon thought with amusement, _running away is a form of self-defense._

Doraemon had not been too sure what this particular episode had accomplished, but he was certain of one thing. He was certain that Nobita did indeed care for him.


	6. Chapter 5

here's the next one, enjoy....

* * *

Like an oncoming flood, challenges kept coming and Doraemon kept solving them. Each time, Nobita became more independent. Each time, Doraemon grew less necessary in Nobita's life.

With intense training with Doraemon, Nobita became a decent athlete, while not as good as Dekisugi and Gian, he could hold his own against most of the others. He finally learned to swim after Doraemon took him to the middle of the ocean and refused to allow him to leave until he learned how to swim. Nobita at long last learned how to ski after a long month in the mountains with Doraemon as relentless coach. He became adept at his studies, always bringing pride to his parents and Doraemon.

As for Doraemon, with each success, he felt a surge of pride but at the same time, a sense of loss. Nobita now sought his help less frequently and his increasing competence made him more popular so he had more friends to play with, hanging out with Doraemon less and less.

Eight years had passed and Nobita had entered college with Gian, Suneo, Shizuka and Dekisugi. Nobita still lived with his parents, but his heavy workload allowed him little time to spend with Doraemon.

As always, Doraemon kept his silence.

DDDDDDD

"You're doing a wonderful job, oni-san," said Dorami in the Time TV. "Our situation here is improving drastically!"

"That's good," said Doraemon, a wistful smile on his wide face.

"Is something wrong?" asked Dorami, noticing the smile and becoming concerned.

"No, everything is fine," answered Doraemon with a sigh.

"Are you sure?" asked the younger cat-robot.

Doraemon just nodded his head.

Dorami still looked uncertain, but did not press. Instead, she decided to move on to another topic that had been on her mind for quite some time.

"When are you coming back?"

The simple question stumped Doraemon. He had been so immersed with his work that he had never stopped to contemplate about what would happen afterwards. He had never thought about returning to the future especially after spending so much time in the 20th century, which had become a home to him.

"I don't know yet," he answered honestly.

"At the rate things are going, Nobita will do just fine," said Dorami, smiling at her brother. "You can come home now, if you want. Your work is practically done."

"Not yet," answered Doraemon. "There's one aspect of his life that hasn't been secured yet. Things have altered drastically and I have to make sure that all the pieces fall into the right places…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Dorami.

Doraemon sighed. "I have to make sure he gets married."

Dorami looked a little surprised but nodded. "I guess you're right, but that would take…"

"…as long as it has to," finished Doraemon firmly. "I have to see this through."

"I understand…" said Dorami quietly, looking sad at the thought that her brother would not return sooner.

"Thank you," answered Doraemon. The truth however, was that Doraemon still did not want to be separated from Nobita.

Not yet.

"Send my best wishes to Sewashi-kun and the rest of the family," he said before switching off the machine.

He looked up at the clock and saw that it was nearly 9 o'clock at night. Nobita should be home soon…

"DORAEMON!!!"

Doraemon jumped. It had been awhile since he last heard it, but he could never fail to recognise it. The voice that had once so often uttered it was now older and more mature, but the whiny and pleading edge was still there. It was Nobita's call for help.

Doraemon looked at the door, wondering what kind of request Nobita would make of him…

DDDDDDDD

That Nobita, Shizuka, Gian and Suneo had decided to attend the same college was no surprise at all. After all, the four of them had been together for a long time and wanted to be together a little longer before they finally went their separate ways to pursue their dreams.

Gian wanted to become a sports star for the new sport he had discovered and was really good at: American Football. Scouts were already raving about his phenomenal ability as a lineman. But Gian was surprisingly wise, he knew that injuries were a very real risk in the sport; therefore he decided that he should have something fall back on as backup. He decided to study to become a cardiologist while at the same time, pursue his American Football dream.

Suneo already had a family business to inherit, but at his insistence, his parents had allowed him to study engineering in the unlikely event their business falls apart. But it was also because it was a profitable profession and would bring the Honekawa family even more money. It was also what their son loved to do.

Shizuka had decided that she wanted to go into journalism, backed by her desire to see the world. It was also because she found that she was much better at writing than playing the violin, much to everyone's relief.

As for Nobita, he still had no idea what he wanted to do. While he was now very good in his studies, he was still uncertain about his own future. He often talked to his parents and Doraemon about the possibilities, but had been unable to come to a decision. However, he decided that he would study multimedia, as it interested him the most.

So the four had entered the same college was different goals in mind.

However, they had all been surprised when they were joined by an unexpected, but very much welcomed friend: Hidetoshi Dekisugi, who happened to be studying the same course as Nobita. They all knew that he had won a scholarship to a highly prestigious university, but it turned out that he had declined in order to be closer to home to look after his ill mother.

So Nobita and Dekisugi studied together and before long, their classmates realised that they were witnessing a battle of two incredible intellects. Nobita and Dekisugi were both very bright and rivaled each other in their studies.

But after months, Nobita, who had once resented Dekisugi, grew to respect him. Dekisugi, who knew that Nobita was once an intellectual cripple, grew to respect him as well. The two even became friends.

One day, they had both been on their break and were having some coffee with their lunch.

Dekisugi smiled when Nobita asked the waitress to pack some dorayaki for him to take home.

"So, Doraemon is still living with you?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Nobita. "Most of the time he just helps around the house and spends time working at an old folks' home."

"The two of you are very close," stated Dekisugi.

"He's like a brother to me," said Nobita. "He's always been there for me and he was the one who helped me turn my life around."

Dekisugi nodded. He sipped his coffee for awhile before speaking up.

"Nobita-san," he said, looking down at the black liquid in his cup. "It's kind of embarrassing for me to ask you this…but, does Shizuka-san talk about me?"

Nobita looked a little surprised, but recovered. He knew that Shizuka liked Dekisugi very much and even though his future with her, thanks to a little intervention from Doraemon, was pretty much assured, he still felt a little threatened when it came to a potential relationship between Shizuka and Dekisugi.

But Dekisugi was his friend and he therefore deserved the truth. "Sometimes, I think you're the only thing she talks about."

Dekisugi looked a little surprised.

"Hide-san, she likes you a lot," said Nobita. "But she feels that you don't like her…"

"Why would she think that?" asked Dekisugi.

"Because you spend so much time competing with me in our studies," answered Nobita, chuckling. "She's actually jealous about it!"

Both of them laughed for awhile before paying for their meal and heading off to class.

Throughout the rest of the day, Shizuka was the main thing on Nobita's mind. Doraemon had once said, even if they alter events to shape the future to their liking, events in the past can still alter the future.

Deep down, Nobita knew that this was one of those events. He had to make a move and soon.

After class, Nobita was about to head for the train station to go home when he ran into Shizuka.

"Nobita-kun!" she greeted. "I haven't seen you around lately. How are your classes going?"

Nobita blushed. Shizuka had grown from a pretty little girl to a beautiful young woman. Gone were the short childish pigtails, replaced by an elegant looking ponytail. The once roundish face had grown become more angular and much more appealing. Her choice of dress had also matured with her age. Instead of the conservative blouse and skirt that she once donned during childhood, she now wore a simple blue sleeveless shirt and jeans that ended just after the knee.

"Hi, Shizuka-chan," Nobita greeted quietly. "Classes are fine, how about you?"

"Same old, same old," answered Shizuka, laughing a little as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, unaware how appealing it looked to Nobita. "Are you going home?"

"Yes, I'm on the way to the station actually," answered Nobita.

"I see, well I better don't keep you or else you'll miss your train," said Shizuka. "I'll see you around then, Nobita-kun."

Nobita watched her walk away, her red hair gleaming in the setting sun. Suddenly, it all clicked. Nobita chased her quickly, crying: "Shizuka-chan, wait!"

Shizuka turned to look at her bespectacled friend.

"Are you free on Sunday?" asked Nobita.

"Yes, why?" asked Shizuka.

"You see, Gian-san gave me tickets for his game on Sunday," said Nobita. "I asked Doraemon but he says he has to be somewhere on that day. So I was wondering that maybe you and I could…"

"I'd love to!" said Shizuka brightly.

"Really?" asked Nobita, hardly able to believe his good luck. "Great! Then maybe we could go and some dinner somewhere or something."

"Sounds great," answered Shizuka. "I'll see you on Sunday then, Nobita-kun."

"All right," said Nobita happily.

DDDDDDDD

It normally takes an hour for the train to reach the nearest station to his home and another hour for him to walk home. But on that day, Nobita took the train to the Tokyo Dome to see where the best restaurants would be so that he could take Shizuka there. He listed a few and crossed several off. He finally found one that he could afford, but found that he needed to make reservations at least a week before as it was a popular place and it was a Friday. He decided that he would need Doraemon's help for this.

The moment he reached home, he immediately cried out: "DORAEMON!!!"

Bursting through the door, he quickly told the cat-robot of his plans and dilemma. For a moment, he noticed a funny far-away look on Doraemon's face, but then quickly begged the cat-robot to help him.

DDDDDDDD

As Doraemon listened to Nobita's elaborate plea for help, he couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. He could see in the tall, long-haired young man before him the little and helpless boy he used to be. He could almost remember all the impossible and far-fetched demands that the boy used to make of him.

Doraemon awoke from the nostalgia when Nobita shook his hand in front of his face.

"Hello?" said Nobita. "Doraemon, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Nobita-kun," answered Doraemon, shaking his head to clear it a little.

"So could you help me?"

Doraemon chortled with amusement.

"Since when have I ever refused you?"

* * *

so what will Doraemon pull out of his pocket this time??

find out in the next chapter....


	7. Chapter 6

here's the next chap...thanks to all who have been following this story...really appreciate it...

* * *

Doraemon felt that things were back to normal or rather close to it. He had pulled out certain gadgets to comply with Nobita's requests like he used to, bragged about the gadget's functions and demonstrating them like he used to.

But it was not the same.

For one, Nobita's requests were no longer childish, selfish or ridiculous. Another difference was that he made his request because he had exhausted any other viable option of his own.

Still, he made his request the usual way: on his knees with a whiny voice and his arms flailing around to emphasise his point.

Doraemon managed to book the restaurant that Nobita wanted and even planned a route that Nobita should take to make the experience more romantic. He guffawed at Nobita's plans to make a romantic conversation and wisely suggested to keep it simple for a first date. Nobita agreed.

By Saturday evening, Nobita was confident that nothing could go wrong.

DDDDDDD

"Ohayo, Shizuka-san," greeted Dekisugi.

"Hide-san!" greeted Shizuka, her cheeks colouring slightly.

She had been spending that evening trying to figure out what to wear for her date with Nobita tomorrow when her doorbell rang. She had answered the door and to her surprise, she found the man on whom she had been crushing on for years standing in her doorway.

Dekisugi chuckled a little. "Good to see you again, Shizuka-san."

"You too," replied Shizuka, her voice a little higher than normal. "Please, why don't you come in?"

"It's all right, I won't be long," answered Dekisugi. "Actually, I was wondering if you were free tomorrow."

Shizuka felt disappointment in her heart and was about to answer that she had a date with Nobita but a dark voice in her head stopped her.

"Why?" was all she asked.

Dekisugi shuffled his foot a little, looking embarrassed. "Actually, I have reservations at this great restaurant and I really want to take you there. After that, maybe we could just hang out…"

He trailed off, looking at his feet.

In her head, Shizuka weighed her options. She had waited for what felt like an eternity for Dekisugi to ask her out and now that it has happened, it had to clash with her date with Nobita.

There were a few options she could take.

Suggest another time to go out with Dekisugi.

Cancel her date with Nobita.

Turn Dekisugi down.

She was juggling her options when Dekisugi looked up and gave her that million-dollar smile that always weakened her knees.

"So, what do you say?" he asked.

Hearing his voice and seeing his smile drove out all coherent thought out of Shizuka's head and before she knew it, she was saying 'yes'.

After Dekisugi had left, looking very happy, Shizuka went back to her room and laid on her bed. She was surprised at herself for agreeing to Dekisugi's invitation when she already had plans with Nobita. But then, this was the chance she had been waiting for…

The dark voice earlier began to talk in her head again.

_Are you seriously going to give up your chance with Dekisugi for Nobita?_

_Dekisugi is charming, clever, polite and respectful. Nobita is nothing compared to him._

_Screw Nobita, he's just a pervert who always peeks on you when you're bathing._

As the thoughts continued to run through her head, Nobita faded from her thoughts and all that was left was Dekisugi. She got up from her bed and happily prepared for her date with _Dekisugi_.

DDDDDD

-SUNDAY-

"So are you sure you'll be all right?" asked Doraemon.

He and Nobita were waiting for Shizuka at the train station. Doraemon had wanted to wait with Nobita, but the girl had not shown up yet and it was almost time for Doraemon to go to work at the old folks' home.

"I'll be fine, Doraemon," answered Nobita. He was dressed in a light green sweater over a simple red shirt and a pair of slightly faded blue jeans. His long hair was combed, parted down the middle, giving him an intelligent but slightly rugged look.

"You should get going, you're going to be late," added Nobita, looking around anxiously for Shizuka.

Doraemon nodded. He was about to leave , but then he stopped and embraced Nobita.

"Doraemon!" cried Nobita, surprised and a little embarrassed by the cat robot's unexpected actions.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just so proud of you Nobita-kun," said Doraemon, letting go of him and taking a step back, smiling up at him. "Today my boy becomes a man!"

Nobita laughed. "Shoo! You're going to be late."

Doraemon chuckled and took out the Take-copter and flew off, waving at Nobita.

Nobita waved back and returned to looking out for Shizuka. She was a little late…

DDDDDD

Gian prepared himself for his game, meditating a little to calm his mind and sharpen his focus.

Until one of his teammates snapped him out of it by clapping him on his back.

"You ready to kill the quarterback, Takeshi-san?" he said.

Gian grinned enthusiastically. "Not just the quarterback, but anyone with the spine to stand in my way."

His teammate laughed. "Then they'll no longer have a spine."

Gian laughed and stood up. He looked at himself in the locker-room mirror. He had changed so much over the past eight years. He was no longer flabby or round, but he was now extremely muscular. Where there was once a big tummy, six packs stuck out proudly. His slightest movement suggested raw, physical power.

"Admiring yourself? I thought that was my job," said an all-to-familiar voice.

Gian grinned and turned around. Sure enough, there was Suneo, as fox-faced as ever. His features were the same as ever, though slightly elongated. Plus, a hint of a moustache was apparent just beneath his nose.

Gian picked up his old friend in a crushing embrace and put him down.

"Glad you could make it!" cried Gian. "Are the others here?"

Suneo chuckled. "I'm the only one here so far. I heard Doraemon couldn't make it, but did you know that Nobita and Shizuka-chan are coming together?"

"Really?" said Gian, looking surprised. "Nobita finally got the guts to ask her out then! Good for him!"

Suneo nodded. "I better get going, thanks for the tickets by the way."

Gian waved off the thanks. "Just promise to cheer from the sideline every time a crush someone."

Suneo laughed. "I've been doing that for years."

And he ran off.

Gian flexed his muscles. The thought of his friends coming to see and support him sent a fiery surge throughout his body. He grinned.

He hoped his opponents had some good paramedics.

DDDDDDD

It was night by the time Doraemon had tucked in the last of the old men in the home. He left and looked up at the night sky.

He should be heading home, but he was itching to see how Nobita's date was going.

He put on the Take-copter and flew of to the Tokyo Dome.

Upon arriving, he was greeted by a thunderous roar from the crowd. He looked down to see Gian, roaring with fury as he crushed the opponents' quarterback.

Doraemon chuckled. "Glad to see he found some use for his strength."

He flew over to where he knew Nobita and Shizuka would be seated. Instead, he only saw a worried-looking Suneo and two empty seats beside him.

He landed beside Suneo. The audience, so captivated by the sight of Gian crushing his opponents, did not even notice a blue cat robot landing from the skies.

"Doraemon!" cried Suneo, looking surprised to see him.

"Suneo-san, where are Nobita and Shizuka?" asked Doraemon, raising his voice to be heard over the noisy crowd.

"I was hoping you could tell me!" answered Suneo. "They never showed up!"

Doraemon's eyes widened and he quickly flew off.

He took out the Time TV to locate Nobita and to his surprise; he found that Nobita was still at the station, alone.

He flew over there quickly.

He approached Nobita, who did not even look up as Doraemon neared.

"Nobita-kun…" said Doraemon.

"I called her, she said that she'll be a little late," answered Nobita tonelessly. "She does like to take her time in the bath…"

"A little?" repeated Doraemon incredulously. "This is more than 'a little', Nobita-kun! She very late! She may not even show up!"

"Don't say that!" shouted Nobita. "She'll definitely show up!"

However as he said that, Doraemon saw at once that Nobita didn't believe his own words. Behind those round glasses, Nobita's eyes were shut tightly and tears were falling from them.

Doraemon was now furious. Where the hell was Shizuka?

He took out the Time TV to locate Shizuka and to his fury, he found that Shizuka was walking somewhere with Dekisugi, having ice-cream!

He took out the Dokodemo Door and ran through it once, appearing in front of the very surprised Shizuka and Dekisugi.

"How could you! How could you!" shouted Doraemon angrily. "How could you betray him like that, Dekisugi!"

Dekisugi looked confused. "Betray who?"

"Don't play innocent with me!" shouted the cat robot. "You knew he had a date with Shizuka and you still went out with her! I thought you were a decent person! But I am shocked that you could be such a scumbag!"

"Hold on," said Dekisugi, looking very confused. "Who had a date with Shizuka-san?"

Doraemon paused in his rage, looking into the confused man's eyes. He saw nothing but genuine confusion there. Doraemon felt confusion mixing with his rage before realisation struck him.

He turned to Shizuka, his eyes wide with shock and fury.

"You…you…I can't believe he went through all that trouble for someone…someone…like you!" spat Doraemon with fury.

"Doraemon, what's going on?" asked Dekisugi, looking worried.

"Shizuka had a date with Nobita-kun!" raged Doraemon, completely beside himself. "She had a date with him tonight! Nobita spent hours looking for the best restaurant to take her to…looking for routes for a nice walk…and…and…"

As Doraemon continued to rant in his fury, Dekisugi's expression turned from confusion and concern to horrified before turning to Shizuka.

"Is this true?" he asked.

Shizuka looked away, staring at the pavement as though she had just discovered that all the secrets of the universe were etched into the stone.

"Shizuka?" prompted Dekisugi.

"It's true," answered Shizuka, her voice quiet.

Dekisugi breathed in quickly and took a step back from Shizuka as though she had suddenly just threatened him with a gun.

"Why?" he asked grimly.

"Because…I like you…" said Shizuka quietly.

Dekisugi cut her off.

"You made me hurt my friend!" he shouted and Shizuka cringed. "I…I'm shocked that you could do such a thing…I…"

He abruptly turned and walked away from her, through the Dokodemo Door. He quickly went to Nobita.

Doraemon had stopped in his ranting and was now giving Shizuka a cold glare.

Shizuka looked back at him and tried to say something but failed.

Doraemon just shook his head and went through the door. It vanished from her sight.

Shizuka collapsed to her knees and began to cry. What on earth had she done?

DDDDDDD

Dekisugi was bowing on the floor before Nobita, begging the other man's forgiveness. Nobita just stared at him blankly before standing up.

He touched Dekisugi on the head and muttered softly. "It's not your fault…it's mine."

He walked off into the darkness towards his home.

Dekisugi tried to follow him but was stopped by Doraemon.

"It's better if you leave him alone for now," said the cat robot quietly.

"I'm truly sorry, Doraemon," said Dekisugi. "I had no idea…"

"Don't blame yourself, Dekisugi-san," said Doraemon sadly. "It's not your fault."

"But…"

"Enough. It's best if you head home now."

Dekisugi tried to say something else but Doraemon quelled him with a look. He sigh and moved to walk away but stopped.

"Look after Nobita-san, Doraemon-san," he said worriedly.

Doraemon just nodded quietly.

_What else have I bee doing?_

DDDDDDDD

_All the models from the year 2112 have been proven to have a certain flaw. This flaw makes them make erroneous judgments, poor decision making, unnecessary behaviour and poor overall performance._

The report ended there.

A man in a business suit read it quietly. His oily black hair was slicked back and his dark eyes simply stared at the report. His hands were locked together. An amethyst ring shone from one of his fingers.

"How many models were made in that year?" asked the man, his voice resembling that of an angry bull.

A scrawny old man in a white lab coat rose from the opposite seat to answer. He was completely bald and his clever little eyes were obscured by a pair of black goggles. His voice was high and reedy.

"Approximately 800, 000," he answered.

The man in the business suit snorted. "What are these erroneous judgments and all these other defects?"

"I believe it makes them behave more or less like humans…"

"They are not."

"That much is obvious, sir," said the scientist. "But it does interfere with their work functions…"

"So what do you suggest?"

"Total recall for reprogramming…"

"How much would that cost?"

"It is not yet certain…"

"Approximately?"

"14 million in US dollars…"

"No reprogramming then."

"Sir?"

"Recall and have them all disposed off."

"But…"

"Now!"

The scientist pursed his lips but walked out of the office to obey.

The man in the business suit looked at the profile of one of the products and snorted. He threw it down on the table before leaving the room.

On the profile of the product were the following details.

_Date of manufacturing: 3__rd__ September, 2112_

_Location: Matsushiba Robot Factory_

_Status: Operational_

_Product Class: C_

_Product ID: DRA 120903_

It went out about the current owner, sales price and so on. At the bottom of the page:

_Other aliases: Doraemon_

* * *

oh no...what will happen next??...

again...thanks to all of you who have been following this story...


	8. Chapter 7

sorry for the late update....been busy....

* * *

"…it's terrible oni-san! 30, 000 of them went for the recall and were destroyed on the spot! The rest of them already fled or went into hiding!"

Doraemon was horrified.

Dorami had contacted him via the Time TV and told him about the new recall for the disposal of all the units from his year. Already 30, 000 had been destroyed, fellow cat robots that Doraemon had once studied with, played with and knew.

"Did they say why they were doing it?" he asked.

"They described your batch having a glitch…" answered Dorami. "…that all of you were faulty for being too…human."

Doraemon was outraged, but he did not show it. Instead, he asked a question that had been on his mind since Dorami told him about the…genocide.

"What about Kid-san and the others?" asked Doraemon.

"They've all gone into hiding and are organizing a resistance even as we speak," answered Dorami. "Oni-san, there's no way they can win!"

"What do you mean by resistance?" asked Doraemon. "Is it resistance through political means or through force of arms?"

"For now, its politics," answered Dorami anxiously. "But with the aggressive way the company is hunting then down, they'll be forced to use force of arms sooner or later."

"I see," said Doraemon.

A silence hung between the two of them.

"Oni-san, you can't come back now," said Dorami. "Not until this crisis is over."

"I still have to help Nobita," said Doraemon. "I can't go back yet."

"Just focus on Nobita-kun for now," said Dorami. "But…"

Before she could finish her sentence, a low buzzing sound was heard in the room. Doraemon realised it was coming from his pocket. He rummaged through it and pulled out a glowing card.

"That's…" began Dorami, but before she could even finish, Doraemon had pulled out another screen the size of a PDA. He inserted the card into the slot and an image appeared on the screen.

A face that was very similar to Doraemon's appeared on the screen. However, this one had catlike ears and a round Chinese skullcap perched on top. This one was also dressed in a red and gold coloured Chinese outfit, giving the impression of a kung-fu master.

"Wang Dora," exclaimed Doraemon, his eyes widening at the sight of his old friend.

"Doraemon," said Wang, a tired edge in his voice. "I assume you already know?"

"Dorami was just telling about it," Doraemon said, acknowledging that he knew of the slaughter. "What about you and the others? Are you all safe?"

"We're all in hiding for now," answered Wang Dora. "Med-san is trying to negotiate with the government for protection…but it's not going well because they consider us…"

"…mere robots." finished Doraemon with disgust. He was vaguely aware that Dorami was still staring at him anxiously through the Time TV. He shook his head at her and she nodded understandingly before the screen went blank.

"Doraemon, we need your strength with us," said Wand Dora quietly.

Doraemon felt a burning desire to go back to the future to fight alongside his friends, but he still had another battle here that he has yet to win.

"I can't, Wang, not yet," said Doraemon, shaking his blue head. "I still have some important matters to deal with here."

Wang Dora's eyes softened slightly. "How is Nobita-san?"

"He's been brooding for the past few weeks," said Doraemon sadly. "He just goes out for classes and doesn't talk to anyone. He doesn't even eat properly anymore."

Wang Dora sighed.

"I understand," said the other cat-robot. "We'll hold the fort till you get here. You just take care of Nobita-san, all right?"

Doraemon nodded, grateful for his friend's understanding. "It's good to see you again, Wang," he said.

"And you, Doraemon," replied Wand Dora before the screen went blank.

The blue cat-robot sighed as he placed everything back into his pocket and looked up at the clock. It was 3pm.

Doraemon went downstairs and into the corridor. As he passed the doors of the living room, he could hear both Nobita's parents discussing their son anxiously.

"He just sits outside after he gets back," said Mrs. Nobi concernedly. "He doesn't eat, he doesn't talk to me. All he does is stare at the grass!"

"I tried talking to him but he doesn't even twitch," said Mr. Nobi, sighing. "Whatever happened to him, it must've been really bad."

"Of course it was bad!" snapped the mother. "You think he'd brood around if something wonderful happened to him?"

The father snapped something back and the two were bickering away.

Doraemon shook his head and went to the garden. Sure enough, there was Nobita, sitting on the grass, staring away at a bush as though it was the most fascinating thing in the universe.

Doraemon tired to talk to him again but as always, Nobita remained unresponsive. Doraemon gave up and walked out of the house.

He cursed Shizuka for her betrayal. After the incident, Dekisugi had visited Nobita and tried to apologise but Nobita had simply stared at the other man expressionlessly. Shizuka had also tried to see him but in this case, Doraemon had chased her away. Gian and Suneo had also visited to try to cheer Nobita up, though they didn't know the whole story but had failed miserably.

Doraemon and Nobita's parents had of course tried to cheer Nobita up but the man had remained unresponsive. Doraemon had exhausted every idea and every gadget he could but none had come close to succeeding.

Doraemon suddenly stopped.

He had been walking aimlessly and his feet had automatically taken him to the cake shop. He eyed the dorayaki and figured that if he couldn't cheer Nobita up, he might as well try to feed him even if he had to shove it down the man's throat.

He stepped up to the counter and was about to order the dorayaki when something else caught his eye. It was a square rice cake called Mochi.

Upon seeing the cake, Doraemon felt himself being thrown back in time.

_Nobita was lying down by the heater, a brand-new manga and snacks by his side. Doraemon was about to climb out of the drawer to greet Nobita when he overheard the boy saying:_ _"Maybe this year will better than the last"_. _That made Doraemon laugh and he told Nobita of the two minor misfortunes coming his way in a while. _

_Needless to say, Nobita had been spooked by hearing Doraemon's seemingly disembodied voice but had freaked out when the cat-robot had climbed out his desk-drawer. The boy had spewed out countless questions that Doraemon did not even have the time to register. Doraemon had managed to shut him up and would have explained his purpose right there and then when he spotted the plate full of white cakes._

"_What's this?" Doraemon had asked, picking the plate up._

"_Mochi," answered Nobita, his look of shock giving way to annoyance. "Want some?"_

_Doraemon tried it and cried: "It's delicious!"_

_He finished it all off and had even licked the plate clean before thanking Nobita and leaving the stunned boy behind. The treat had sent a wave of happiness and contentment through Doraemon and the cat-robot was humming away happily as he drove the Time-Machine back to the 22__nd__ century._

_Suddenly, he remembered his original purpose._

_Cursing, he quickly drove back to the 20__th__ century and scrambled out of Nobita's drawer only to find that Sewashi was already there._

_After apologizing, he and Sewashi had proceeded to explain why they were there._

_After hearing Nobita's response, Doraemon's conclusion had been: "The boy is an imbecile."_

Doraemon smiled to himself, many years had passed since then and his initial judgement of Nobita had been wrong, something he was very happy about. Nobita had improved himself beyond Doraemon's wildest dreams and though the cat-robot would rather face a hundred rats than admit it, he had also improved Doraemon.

But one thing that Nobita had never been able to handle was rejection. As a little boy, Nobita had always run crying to Doraemon whenever he saw Shizuka talking to Dekisugi. As a teenager, Nobita had let out his bitterness whenever Shizuka acted like he was invisible around Dekisugi. Now, this latest form of betrayal and rejection had finally broken Nobita and Doraemon was at loss. He didn't know what to do about this.

All he knew was that Nobita deserved someone better than Shizuka, someone who could see him for the changed person that he is, someone who could make him happy, someone who could make him come to Doraemon with a smile on his face rather than a frown, someone who…

"Aren't you Doraemon?"

Doraemon looked up to see a slim, pretty woman in front of him. Her hair was dark and long, her face shapely and soft brown eyes twinkled down at him. She looked familiar…

"Don't you remember me?"

Her voice sounded familiar as well…

Then it hit him.

Leaping 129.3 centimeters in the air, Doraemon cried: "YOU'RE…"

* * *

gyahahaha....my first cliffy...i think...hope you liked that....


	9. Chapter 8

It's been a very long time since I last updated, so i tried to make this chap a little longer than the rest...enjoy

* * *

A small brown leaf detached itself from the tree, gliding gracefully on the evening breeze until it settled itself in Nobita's hair, its presence unheeded.

Nobita gazed up the blood-red sky, thinking about everything that had happened. Shizuka had made a fool out of him. She had ditched him for Dekisugi. Nobita can't say he was surprised; after all, the difference between him and Dekisugi is like heaven and earth. Dekisugi was good-looking, Nobita was not. Dekisugi was refined, Nobita was coarse. Dekisugi was witty and humorous, Nobita was vulgar and foolish.

A tear slowly slid down his pale cheek unheeded.

"It's my fault," Nobita said to himself.

_If I had only known better, I wouldn't have even asked Shizuka out. I made her do this terrible thing. She always liked Hide-san; I was just a nobody, a fly he kept getting in her way._

Nobita reached into his pocket and pulled out a small kitchen knife. The red rays of the setting sun gave it an almost bloody shine and it seemed to Nobita that the knife was almost caressing him like a lover...

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

The sudden shriek made Nobita jump and before he could even turn around, something short tackled him from behind, sending him to the ground and the knife over the garden wall. Nobita sat up and turned to the blue cat-robot who glared at him, panting.

"Don't you ever let me catch you even thinking about something like that!" yelled Doraemon furiously. "You've done many stupid things before but this has to be at your top five! If not, then right at the top!"

Suddenly Nobita saw red. How dare Doraemon interfere, he did not understand how Nobita felt, he did not see that the only way Nobita could benefit anyone was to just disappear...

Suddenly, Nobita swung out, his fist catching Doraemon right in the side of the face, sending the cat-robot rolling back.

"You don't understand how I feel at all!" shouted Nobita. "Do you know how much it hurts me? Do you know how much pain I'm causing to everyone else? I'm worth nothing! It's better if I just..."

He was cut off when Doraemon rammed his hard head into Nobita's mid-section, driving the air out of the young man.

"You're in pain, so what!" shouted Doraemon. "Everyone gets hurt from time to time! You have to come back from this, better than ever! Only cowards take the easy way out and commit suicide!"

"Don't call me a coward!" screamed Nobita, crashing his fist right into Doraemon's gut, sending the cat-robot sprawling on the ground. "This is for the good of everyone else! If I'm gone, than Shizuka and Dekisugi can be happy together, mama and papa wouldn't have anyone to be ashamed about and you wouldn't have any burdens left to handle, so you can just fuck off back to the 21st century..."

"You selfish little bastard!" shrieked Doraemon, striking Nobita hard in the face, breaking Nobita's glasses and sending the young man crashing to the ground. The cat-robot quickly pinned Nobita using his 129.3 kg body weight.

"What about Sewashi-kun and your future generation? If you die, they all will cease to exist! You are now the pride of your family, papa and mama are so proud of you. They are so happy that you have such a bright future ahead of you now! How could you take away that happiness from them? What about Suneo and Gian? They'd be losing a dear friend! What about me..."

Doraemon trailed off, too overcome with emotion to continue. Nobita just looked away, tears streaming down his face. He had known that he would hurt a lot of people if he had committed suicide, but the pain in his heart was too much.

"I thought that after all the changes I've been through, she might have accepted me at last," Nobita said quietly. "I don't know what to do anymore; I don't know how I could ever become somebody to her..."

"Nobita-kun, she is the one who doesn't deserve you," said Doraemon gently. When Nobita looked at him with confusion, Doraemon managed a weak chuckle.

"Look at everything we've been through together," Doraemon said. "When she was trapped in the storybook world, you were the one who willingly threw away everything to save her. You willingly faced dinosaurs, demons, cannibals, mad robots and who knows what else, all for her. If she can't see what a great person you are, then she doesn't deserve you at all."

"It wasn't just me," said Nobita quietly. "You, Gian and Suneo were there too. The three of you were always there."

Doraemon smiled a little. "But you always went that extra smile for her. If she turned her back on you, I say forget about her. You deserve someone who cares about you."

Doraemon got off Nobita and helped him up. Doraemon took out the Restoration Light Gun and fixed Nobita's glasses, handing them back to their owner.

Nobita placed them on his face and walked back to the house, Doraemon following.

"Doraemon?" Nobita said.

Doraemon grunted questioningly.

"Thank you."

Doraemon nodded.

***

From a nearby window of the house, Mr and Mrs Nobi had been watching the exchange.

"Nobita is really lucky," said Mr Nobi. "He has such a loyal friend. Loyalty is something you just don't find everywhere in the world now."

"It's not just that," said Mrs Nobi. "It's true friendship. Doraemon is probably the truest friend Nobita will ever have. It was a blessed day for our son when Doraemon climbed out of the drawer of his desk."

Mr Nobi nodded, and then suddenly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" his wife asked.

"If I recall, Nobita chased Doraemon out with a broom that time," Mr Nobi said. "Remember? We found him hitting that desk again and again. When he told us what happened, we convinced him that he was imagining things."

Mrs Nobi laughed. "Well I'm glad we were wrong about it. If not Doraemon would have never entered our lives and turned Nobita's around. Although, I had some doubts at first."

Mr Nobi laughed. "You and me both. But looked how well is turned out. Everything's looking up for Nobita."

Mrs Nobi nodded, smiling. Suddenly, a solemn expression replaced her smile.

"What's wrong?" asked Mr Nobi.

"Does this mean Dora-chan will leave us soon?" asked Mrs Nobi.

"Eh?"

"After all, I was told that he wasn't going to be here forever."

"But how long has he been here?"

"A little over ten years."

"Why should he leave us now?"

"He has another home, remember?" said Mrs Nobi. "I just wonder how Nobita would take it if Doraemon leaves. Remember the first time he left, Nobita was..."

"...a little boy who lost his best friend," countered Mr Nobi. "But that little boy is now a man. He'll be able to handle it."

"I guess you're right..." said Mrs Nobi, not at all certain.

"Why don't you stop worrying and prepare dinner?" said Mr Nobi, chuckling. "Trust me, it'll be fine."

Mrs Nobi nodded, smiling a little and made her way to the kitchen.

Mr Nobi took one glance back out the window and was about to leave the room when his gaze fell on a picture hanging on the wall. It was a picture taken about two years after Doraemon's arrival. It was picture of Mr Nobi, his wife, Nobita and Doraemon at a picnic in the mountains. He and his wife were holding hands and waving at the camera while Doraemon was giving Nobita a piggyback ride, both of them laughing.

He wiped off some dust off the picture and straightened it. Satisfied, Mr Nobita headed to kitchen to help his wife cook.

"True friend, a true friend indeed," he muttered to himself as he went.

***

"It hadn't been easy, but the government has agreed to grant us all temporary protection and will allow us to plead our case before the senate next month before they start negotiations," said Med wearily in the Time TV.

"That's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless," said Doraemon. "It must have been hard trying to get around the company hunters while negotiating."

"The Invisibility Creams you sent us really helped, thanks a lot," said Med, smiling tiredly. "Especially since the supply shops all refuse to trade with us. We've been force to go to the black market for supplies."

"Will it really come to fighting?" asked Doraemon sadly. While he couldn't be there for his friends, he had sent whatever help he can through the Time Machine and Dorami. Food, gadgets, repair tools, whatever he could give.

"The government still views us as 'products'," said Med, snorting with disgust. "It doesn't seem they'll change their minds and grant us rights as civilians but there's still some hope they might. Small hope is still better than no hope, eh? Still, no harm in preparing in case we have to fight...which is likely."

"How are the others?" asked Doraemon.

"Kid wanted to rush into the company building, guns blazing and all," said Med, laughing a little as he straightened his turban. _He always liked Middle-Eastern clothing_ thought Doraemon with amusement.

"...even Matadora had a hard time trying to restrain him, though he wanted to attack the company himself. Nichov, Wang and I are the ones handling the negotiations. Rinho, Matadora, Kid and Wang are in charge of preparing for battle. Wang is under a lot of pressure, juggling the negotiations and preparing for battle."

"I want to be there with you guys," said Doraemon heatedly.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Med, taking a puff from a _hookah _he just pulled out of his four-dimensional magic lamp. "Nobita is still your main priority and these negotiations will take a few years. We'll be able to manage without you."

"Still, if there's anything I can do..." said Doraemon.

"...what you've been doing for us is fine," said Med firmly. "Don't worry about us."

"All right," said Doraemon reluctantly. He was so torn between wanting to help Nobita and going home to aid his friends in their, no, _his _struggle.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Med-kun, I have to go now," said Doraemon quickly. "Get some rest, you look terrible."

"You're no beauty yourself," retorted Med, chuckling. "See you later, Dora."

Chuckling, Doraemon switched off the Time TV. He climbed out of the cupboard that served as his bedroom to greet Nobita who was dressed in his best.

"Do I really have to go?" asked Nobita grumpily.

"The best way to forget a girl is to see other girls," said Doraemon cheerfully. He took out the Dokodemo Door and opened it to the restaurant where Nobita was to meet the girl that Doraemon had arranged for him to meet. It had been three weeks since their exchange and Doraemon had been pestering Nobita to meet a girl that he had met. Nobita had been refusing but finally, sick of Doraemon's persistence, he reluctantly agreed.

"Have a good time!" said Doraemon cheerfully, pushing Nobita through the door.

He switched the Time TV on and pulled out a dorayaki and sat back to watch how things would turn out.

***

Nobita sat at a table, an untouched glass of water within his reach. He looked around but could see no one who might be looking for someone else.

_Great, another girl who's ditching me_ he thought darkly.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Maybe he'll just leave and go to a ramen store to drown his sorrows in ramen. He hadn't even met the girl and she already...

"Nobita-san?"

His eyes snapped open and beheld a beautiful woman a few years younger than him. She was slender, though not as slender as Shizuka. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was dressed in a simple but elegant red dress. Her face looked very familiar though...

"It is you!" the woman said happily, sitting herself on the chair opposite Nobita. "It's been a long time since I last saw you! How have you been doing?"

"We've met before?" Nobita asked, still trying to place where he might have met her.

"Of course we have!" cried the woman. "A lot of times, in fact! I used to...Doraemon didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Nobita asked, bemused.

The woman chuckled a little. "That blue rascal of yours. I'm Jaiko."

Nobita stared at her for awhile, his mouth shut and his eyes wide. In his mind, when he heard the name 'Jaiko', it conjured up an image of a girl who is slightly smaller than Gian but looked nearly exactly like him. He often thought that she looked like Gian in a dress and wig. But this woman before him, this beauty...

"No way!" Nobita cried out. "Your Gian's sister!"

"That's right," said Jaiko, looking surprised at his reaction.

"But you look...different!" cried Nobita, eyes growing wider by the minute.

"That's what Doraemon said, in his own way," replied Jaiko, laughing.

She told him about what happened when she met Doraemon at the cake shop.

***

"You're Jaiko! You're Gian's sister!" Doraemon cried, his eyes wide and mouth wide open.

"Yes, that's me!" said Jaiko cheerfully.

Her cheerful demeanour threw Doraemon off, the Jaiko he remembered was always quiet and brooding. The only time she was cheerful was when she was playing with Shizuka or her other friends.

Not only that, the Jaiko Doraemon remembered looked too much like Gian. But this woman before him, slim, beautiful and charming called herself Jaiko, Gian's sister! The words were out of Doraemon's mouth before he realised it.

"You don't look like Gian in a dress anymore!" he cried.

Jaiko's eyes suddenly narrowed and darkness seemed to fall around her. With a roar worthy of fifty lions, she swung her handbag onto Doraemon's head, flooring the cat-robot and leaving a lump the size of a dorayaki on his head.

"That was very rude!" cried Jaiko, her feminine voice contrasting sharply with her earlier roar.

"I'm sorry, you're definitely Gian's sister," said Doraemon, rubbing the lump gingerly. "But you've changed a lot!"

"I've been exercising a lot for the past few years," said Jaiko. "I'm doing a Public Relations course so they need me to be more presentable and more welcoming."

"I thought you wanted to be mangaka?" asked Doraemon.

"I do and I've been working on it during my free time," answered Jaiko. "How's Nobita-san?"

"He's fine, but he had a very terrible heartbreak recently," replied Doraemon sadly. "He's never been the same since then."

"How terrible!" said Jaiko with sincere concern and sympathy. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You're very kind, Jaiko," said Doraemon. "But I don't..."

Suddenly Doraemon had stared at Jaiko with such an intense gaze that she couldn't help but take a step back.

"Maybe there is something you can do," cried Doraemon. "Do you really want to help Nobita-kun?"

"Eh? Of course," answered Jaiko, surprised by the sudden change in Doraemon.

"Then would you go out with him?"

Jaiko was stunned to silence.

"Jaiko-chan?"

"I suppose I would, but I haven't seen Nobita-san for a long time now..."

"It's all right," said Doraemon earnestly. "Why don't you two just meet and we'll see what happens from there!"

The cat-robot had given her such a pleading gaze that Jaiko hadn't the hard to turn him down.

***

"So here I am," said Jaiko, finishing her story.

Nobita stared at her. She was very beautiful and if he looked closely, he could see hints of Gian in her, the slightly chubby cheeks, and the roundish nose. But still, she was very attractive. But there was one thing that Nobita wanted to clarify.

"So you just came to see me because you felt sorry for me?" asked Nobita.

"No!" cried Jaiko. "Well...yes, but that wasn't the entire reason."

"What is the entire reason?" asked Nobita.

To his surprise, a blush appeared on Jaiko's cheeks.

"When we were little, I always had a crush on you," she said. "But you never had eyes for anyone but Shizu-chan. Sure, you looked at other pretty girls from time to time but you never once gave a glance of interest. So I was very sad about that. When I told Doraemon I went through all these changes for my course, I wasn't being completely honest. A childish part of me still wanted your attention. So I changed myself. When Doraemon told me to help you with your...situation, it was the perfect excuse to see you again."

Nobita just looked at her.

Jaiko, her face brick red, stood up and bowed. "I'm sorry, Nobita-san, I should..."

"...stay," Nobita requested. When Jaiko just looked at him with surprise, he said. "It's all right. Just stay here. I'm glad you're not just here out of pity. Are you still crushing on me?"

Jaiko snorted a little. "Not anymore, but I was curious to see how you'd react."

Nobita smiled. "Well you saw that already. But how on earth did you..."

The two of them slowly became engaged in their conversation, heedless of the time that went by.

Doraemon, watching on the Time TV, smiled a little. He had realised then, that Jaiko's sudden change was probably caused by Nobita's change. So he had wondered how it would turn out if the two met each other again.

_It's funny, I was the one who intervened and caused Nobita to marry Shizuka instead of Jaiko. But then, nature walks in and sets the history back to how it was. Well, not exactly how it was, but close._

Doraemon wasn't naive; he knew there was a chance that the relationship might fail. But regardless of what would happen, he would be monitoring and maybe guide it a little every step of the way.

* * *

So...what did you guys think??


	10. Chapter 9

It's been awhile, eh? Enjoy

* * *

Nobita's and Jaiko's relationship progressed steadily over the next four years. There had been ups and downs, arguments and fights, happy moments and sad moments, but in the end, thanks to subtle and not-so-subtle interventions by Doraemon, their relationship stayed strong.

Nobita had since graduated and was pursuing a second degree in robotics and artificial intelligence while working for a good animation studio. He was always busy, but never too busy for his family, friends and Jaiko. Thanks to the money he was making, his father was finally able to comfortably retire and spend all his time at home with his wife and tending to the garden.

Gian had heartily approved of their relationship with the usual warning: "Make her cry, I'll break your neck!"

Both Gian and Suneo had found out about Shizuka's deceit, though it took a lot of convincing. Ultimately, both of them remained friends with the girl, deciding that they could not be the ones to judge her.

Nobita grew to love Jaiko, though a long time ago he would have thrown up at the thought. The woman was kind, understanding and caring, though she also had a vicious temper when angered as Nobita and Doraemon learned.

By the end of the fourth year of their relationship, Nobita felt it was time to pop the question.

He did not ask Doraemon for any help in planning the momentous occasion, another sign of his growing independence.

Doraemon sat quietly in the closet that served as his bedroom. On the walls of the closet were numerous trinkets that Nobita had longed discarded and forgotten about but Doraemon had painstakingly retrieved and treasured. The math test paper that Nobita had scored through his own hard work, a photo of Nobita achieving third place in a track event, a copy of Nobita's college entrance exam results and a photo of Nobita graduating with honours.

Doraemon had an album on his lap, his wide eyes fixed on every picture as he flipped the pages slowly.

"How quickly time flies," he said, sighing.

He closed the album and left the closet, looking around the room.

Though it was empty, he could still see Nobita lying down on floor, reading a comic. He could still see Nobita fearfully hiding another test paper with a red zero scrawled on it. He could see Nobita snoring away in the middle of the room, drooling.

Doraemon sat on the floor and shut his eyes wearily.

Where had the time gone?

It felt like only yesterday when Doraemon had hardened his resolve to help Nobita change for the better. Ever since then, like watching a film of a flower growing, the boy had grown into a man and was now going to marry.

"What's wrong with you?"

Doraemon looked up and saw Nobita at the door, looking concerned.

Nobita now kept his hair at medium length, always combed stylishly. He kept a small neat beard and moustache and though he had often toyed with idea of getting contact lenses, he never quite got around to it. The glasses he kept were the same ones that he's used for the last ten years.

"Nothing," said Doraemon tiredly, before flashing his customary smile. "Just a little bored."

Nobita sat down on the floor next to Doraemon.

"It's been awhile since we last went for a walk," he said. "How about we go for one now? We can drop by the cake shop for some dorayaki and then head for the old playground."

"Don't you have to plan your proposal to Jaiko?" asked Doraemon.

"All done!" said Nobita, stretching and yawning noisily. "Everything's ready for tomorrow. So what do you say?"

Doraemon smiled. He was thinking about how Nobita used to dawdle and procrastinate right up to the last second. Now he was organised and finished his work as fast and as well as possible.

"Alright."

The two of them sat comfortably on the hollow concrete pillars that had always been at the playground, munching on the dorayakis contentedly.

The neighbourhood had not changed much over the past few years. Some new convenience stores had opened while some of the older ones had closed. But it was essentially still the same.

"Ne, Doraemon?" said Nobita suddenly.

Doraemon looked at him, chewing away on a piece of dorayaki.

"Why did you leave that first time?" asked Nobita.

Doraemon blinked, he hadn't been expecting that. He remembered the first time he had decided to leave Nobita to go back to the future. Nobita had come in crying about Gian bullying him as usual and had asked for a gadget to take his revenge. Doraemon had then rebuked him, much to the boy's surprise. Doraemon then revealed that he was going back to the future and Nobita had cried and pleaded with him to stay, but to no avail.

Thinking back, Doraemon had never told him the reason why he decided to leave that time.

"Doraemon?" prompted Nobita.

Doraemon sighed and looked away. He had hoped that he would never have to talk about it.

"I left because I felt I was doing you more harm than good," said Doraemon shortly.

Nobita's face whitened with shock.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Doraemon took a deep breath before continuing.

"You were becoming increasingly dependent on me. Every little thing that you found remotely challenging resulted in you running to me for help. At first I thought I was doing the right thing by indulging your requests...but I was wrong. I was spoiling you and I knew it. I was making things worse for both you and Sewashi-kun. So in the end I decided it would be better for me to leave you."

Doraemon paused, looking at Nobita for some sort of response, but the man was looking up towards the sky, where the Sun was starting to descend westwards.

"I thought that leaving you would be better for everyone...and I was right," said Doraemon.

"What do you mean?" asked Nobita, the vague hurt in his voice making Doraemon wince.

"The night before I left, you stood up to Gian," said Doraemon softly. "You stood up to him all by yourself. You fought him without any help from me. You, then one of the biggest cowards I ever knew, showed that you had guts. You were badly beaten, but you still made Gian give up."

Doraemon chuckled a little, and Nobita smiled a little despite himself.

"I was very proud of you that night," continued the cat-robot. "I knew then my decision to leave was the right one."

"But when you came back that time," said Nobita. "You stayed. You could've left again, but you chose to stay."

Doraemon sighed.

"I was being selfish," he said bitterly. "When I left you that time, I resumed being a nobody in the 22nd century. There were other and better cat-robots in the future. No one really needed me. Even in Sewashi's family there was Dorami. I was just an extra robot, though Sewashi and everyone else treated me like family. But I wasn't needed."

"But then, you called me back. You actually needed me. Not just my gadgets, but you needed me there as a friend. I was...happy. So I decided to stay on, and I despite any misgivings I continued to indulge your every whim...well, most of them anyway. Until Sewashi-kun talked to me about how I was ruining both his and your lives."

"How dare he..." began Nobita, outrage on his face, but Doraemon stopped him.

"Don't get angry with him, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon wearily. "He was right. That was why I started to help you more seriously."

Nobita fell quiet, as did Doraemon.

Both of them said nothing for awhile until Nobita nudged Doraemon.

"It's been awhile since we played on the clouds," he said, grinning a little. "Why don't you take out the Cloud-Solidifying Spray and we can get up there again?"

Doraemon smiled back and began to rummage in his pocket when two other voices greeted him and Nobita.

"Why do are you guys doing?"

It was Suneo and Gian.

"We're going to go up to the clouds like when we created the Cloud Kingdom," said Nobita excitedly. "You guys want to come with?"

"Oh yeah!" said Gian eagerly. "It's been so long!"

"Yeah," said Suneo. "I wonder if any of the Sky People's countries are still up there?"

"Let's go and find out then," said Doraemon, grinning as he handed out Take-copters.

The four of them flew towards the skies, talking and laughing.

For a little while, to Doraemon, they were almost like children again.


	11. Chapter 10

Shadows crept around the dimly lit underground passage. A group of cat-robots kept watch anxiously for intruders. Suddenly, another cat-robot approached them from farther within the passage. This cat-robot was yellow and dressed in a cowboy outfit.

"You guys look tired," he said kindly. "Go back to the base and get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

"But Kid-san..." began one of the other cat-robots, but Kid cut him off.

"No buts," he said firmly. "You guys are no good to anyone if you're about to fall asleep on your feet. Go on."

They reluctantly agreed and headed back to their base.

Kid sighed and leaned against the passage wall, keeping watch for anyone approaching. Med, Wang, Matadora, Nichov, Rinho and a few other cat-robots had all gone for the final debate for the legislation for the rights of the cat-robots and other artificial intelligence to exist as individuals in society.

Their struggle had gained interest from some humans and other near-human robots. Other cat-robots from different production years had been the most numerous to join though a lot more stayed away from the resistance for their own safety. Their numbers had been bolstered but not by much.

Personally, Kid knew that if it came to battle, and all out assault against the company would result in utter annihilation for the robots, the only way they'd stand a chance would be through guerrilla warfare, but Kid knew that would only lead to a very long and painful struggle, but it was better than being wiped in one swoop.

He heard some noises coming towards, waking him from his thoughts. He quickly drew out his Air Gun and remained in the shadows, watching for the intruders. Soon they were near enough for him to see.

It was his friends, all of them battered and wounded, but otherwise alive.

"Guys!" he cried, jumping out of the shadows.

Wang turned sharply, ready to attack, but managed to stop when he saw it was Kid.

"Damn it, Kid-san!" said Wang wearily. "Don't do that! We might've ended up killing each other!"

"Sorry," said Kid, as he ran to his friends to help.

They managed to get to the base where Kid quickly got a few other robots to help him patch them up.

Once they were looking better, Kid immediately asked them the question that had been burning inside him.

"So...how did it go?" he asked.

They all stared at each other incredulously before breaking out in laughter. It wasn't a pleasant, mirthful sound that most people associate with the sound. Instead, it was hard, cynical and filled with bitterness.

"We lost our argument," said Med. "They refused to grant us rights that would abolished our status as "products". Not only that, they ordered us to cease our struggle and turn ourselves in to the company for the recall."

"Damn them!" snarled Kid. "They'd have to be nuts if they think we'd agree to that!"

"That's what I said to them," said Matadora. "They tried to arrest us, but we managed to fight our way out. The other guys who came with us...they didn't make it. They decided to hold up the company and the police so that we could get away."

"Their sacrifice won't be forgotten," said Wang, his voice laced with grief at the loss of their comrades. "But it gets worst, Kid-san. Now that the senate voted against us, they see us as renegade robots. It won't only be the company coming after us, now the government will also back them up."

Silence followed this statement.

Nichov, half his face hidden by his scarf shook his head slowly.

"We can't win," said Rinho softly.

"We all know that," answered Med wearily. "The question is what we do now?"

Nichov suddenly growled, the sound slightly muffled by the scarf but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What is it, Nichov?" asked Kid, wondering if Nichov heard any intruders. "Is it intruders?"

Nichov shook his head, but growled even more fiercely.

"You mean we must fight?" asked Matadora.

Nichov nodded, his normally half-shut eyes wide, blazing with a fiery spirit.

"Nichov is right," said Matadora. "There is no longer any question of what we must do. The only thing we can do now is fight. It's either fight or die."

"I guess so," said Wang reluctantly. "But if we fight, we will all eventually die anyway."

"Then what do we do?" cried Kid angrily. "Go out there and turn ourselves in and let them destroy us anyway?"

"No," said Wang wearily. "It's better to go out fighting. I mean, do we just fight to die? Or do we fight so that some of us can survive?"

"What do you mean?" asked Med.

"We're cat-robots," said Wang. "We were never designed for battle. Those of us who can fight can do so because of special circumstances. There are many cat-robots here who are too peaceful for battle."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Rinho.

"We will fight, but we must allow some of us to escape this era," said Wang. "We will allow those who are willing to fight to stay, but we must also get those who can't or won't out of this era. At least, even if those who fight are all obliterated, at least some of the cat-robots of our generation will survive. Our struggle will survive. Maybe they can succeed in ushering in change for our kind where we have failed."

He looked at his friends for the reactions. Kid and Matadora looked as though they didn't approve of this idea. Wand could understand their feelings, such an action would be probably cut down their numbers greatly, but it would ensure that at least some of them would survive. Med was nodding his head, Rinho looked uncertain but it was Nichov who helped them all decide.

He walked forward and growled, nodding his head at Wang. His eyes showed his approval and he turned to others and growled at them too.

They all nodded and agreed with Wang's suggestion.

"What about Doraemon?" asked Med suddenly.

"He still has Nobita to handle," said Wang. "Once he's done over there, he'll probably come to join us."

"I'd rather he didn't," said Med softly. "Doraemon is happy over there; I don't want him to throw it all away just to die in battle."

"We can't hide the truth from him though," said Matadora. "He knows us too well. Knowing him, he'll definitely come."

"But he's also one of the more battle-hardened of all of us," argued Kid. "He's been in so many battles on his adventures with Nobita and with us. Sure he still panics sometimes, but his experience would be a boost for us!"

"Do you really want Doraemon to throw away his happiness just so that he could fight and die in a doomed struggle, Kid-san?" asked Wang coldly.

"I never...I...I..." Kid stammered, his face turning red before looking away, ashamed of himself. "No."

Rinho patted Kid on the back comfortingly.

"What do you think, Nichov?" Rinho asked.

Nichov's ears just drooped and he closed his eyes.

"You know Doraemon would be a big boost to our cause, but you also want him to be happy, so you're torn in two about it?" asked Rinho.

Nichov nodded.

"Why don't we let Doraemon decide on his own," said Matadora. "Then we'll just respect his decision."

All of them nodded.

DDD

Doraemon sneezed.

He rubbed his nose and looked out of the window of Nobita's room. The moon was shining brightly and the clock ticking on the desk showed that it was nearly an hour past midnight.

Doraemon put the book he was reading down and yawned, his mouth stretching wide.

He wondered how Nobita's proposal was going.

The evening before, while Doraemon, Nobita, Gian and Suneo had been fooling around on the clouds, Nobita had gotten an idea. He had asked to borrow the Dokodemo Door and the Cloud-Solidifying Spray. When Doraemon had asked him why, Nobita had just smiled and said: "Trust me."

Doraemon yawned again and headed down to the kitchen to make himself some hot chocolate and sneak some dorayaki.

When he got back, he found the Dokodemo door just appearing in the room before swinging open, a red-faced and flustered Nobita stumbling through it. Doraemon quickly put the hot chocolate and dorayaki beside the door before rushing forward to help Nobita steady himself.

"Nobita-kun, what's wrong?" asked Doraemon anxiously. Did Jaiko reject Nobita's proposal? "What did Jaiko say?"

"She..." said Nobita, breathing heavily, his face red.

Doraemon felt cold inside. Did Jaiko really reject Nobita? How could she? Why would she? Nobita was a good man! One of the best! What is wrong with her? Something must be wrong with her if she could...

"SHE SAID YES!" cried Nobita loudly.

He quickly explained to Doraemon that after dinner, he had used the Dokodemo Door and Cloud-Solidifying Spray to take Jaiko on a stroll on the clouds under the moonlight before proposing to her. Jaiko had been floored by the proposal and had said yes.

Once Nobita finished, he grinned at Doraemon, breathing heavily and his face flushed with happiness.

Doraemon just stared back expressionlessly.

"Doraemon?" asked Nobita, his grin faltering a little. "Are you okay?"

Doraemon started and blinked. He looked at Nobita for a few more seconds before his wide face broke out in a massive grin.

"Of course!" he said. "I was just stunned by the news! Well done! Congratulations! Good for you!"

Nobita smiled back happily at Doraemon, though Doraemon thought he caught a hint of unease in Nobita's face. Nobita opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his parents, who had come upstairs to check what the commotion was all about.

Doraemon watched as Nobita told his parents the good news and smiled a little as they both started hugging their son proudly and happily. Mrs. Nobi dragged him downstairs to get more details while Mr. Nobi went to get some sake to celebrate.

Once they were gone, Doraemon sighed.

When Nobita had told him the news, several things had been running through his mind at once that he spaced out.

_This is it._

_My days here are numbered._

_It's almost time for me to go._

_This is truly it._

_I'm done here._

_Nobita-kun's getting married and there's no place for me here anymore._

_Nobita-kun no longer needs me._

Doraemon sighed and climbed into his closet. He laid down on his futon to sleep but was interrupted by a buzzing sound.

He rummaged in his Four Dimensional Pocket and retrieved that Time TV. Pressing several switches, the screen showed some static before revealing Dorami's anxious face.

"Oni-san, how're you?" she asked.

"I'm great," answered Doraemon. "Nobita-kun's getting married with Jaiko."

"Really?" asked Dorami, looking distracted. "That's good...that's good..."

"Dorami, what's wrong?" asked Doraemon, concerned.

"Oni-san, this about your friends," said Dorami, sounding almost hysterical. "Yesterday was the final chance for them to state their case for to revoke their status as 'products' and be recognised as citizens. They failed, and were ordered to surrender to the company. They fought and escaped. The government has declared their batch as renegade robots posing a danger to society, and will be working alongside the company to destroy them all. Oni-san, this means war!"

"What about Wang and the others?" asked Doraemon, shocked. He hadn't expected things to go this far. The company was already a formidable enemy, but with government backing them, his friends and their resistance didn't stand a chance.

"They got away," answered Dorami, crying now. "But the government and the company are now actively hunting all cat-robots from your year. There are no confrontations just yet, but it's only a matter of time before things get out of control."

"I have to go back!" said Doraemon, angry now.

"No, oni-san! You can't!" cried Dorami. "The Time Patrol knows that some of your batch are in different time periods and are on the lookout. They'll catch you if you come back!"

"I can't just stay here while my friends are getting killed!" said Doraemon heatedly, his voice rising.

"Please, oni-san!" cried Dorami, tears streaming down her face. "You can't come back! Think of Nobita-san!"

Doraemon cringed. He badly wanted to stay with Nobita, but he wanted to go and fight alongside his friends as well.

"Nobita-kun can manage fine without me now," said Doraemon slowly. "He is getting married after all."

"But he's not married yet!" cried Dorami wildly. "You have to make sure he actually ties the knot! So you can't come back until then! Or else anything can happen during the engagement!"

Doraemon seethed, knowing that while the odds of that happening were now pretty low, it could still happen. Dorami was right. He had to make sure the wedding actually takes place.

"Fine," he said. "You know my bank account? Transfer all my money to your account and give it to Wang and the rest. Get Sewashi-kun to do it, or else it'll be suspicious. Make sure you draw it in cash, or else the government can trace it."

Dorami nodded.

Doraemon said goodbye and killed the connection. He lay back on his futon and sighed with frustration.

This was supposed to be a happy time for him, but his friends are getting killed.

Doraemon didn't know how he was going to cope without short-circuiting himself because of the stress.


	12. Chapter 11

_very slow at updating, my apologies...but that was the most severe block i ever had, not that that's an excuse. please enjoy._

* * *

The voices of the people gathered outside the room rumbled like faraway thunder.

Nobita thought that the rumbling thunder of voices would never be able to match the thunderclaps that were his heartbeat.

This was the day he had always dreamed of, but instead of Shizuka, it would be Jaiko who'll walk down the aisle. Nobita never thought that he'd ever be able to love someone so much. The infatuation that he had for Shizuka, that simple childhood crush paled in comparison to what he felt for Jaiko.

He smiled a little as he remembered that Doraemon had once changed things in the past so that he could get married to Shizuka instead. But somehow, events managed to not only change the past back to how it was originally meant to be, but made things even better.

The love that Nobita had found within himself for Jaiko enabled him to forgive Shizuka for her betrayal. But it was Jaiko's gentle, caring nature that allowed the two of them reforge the bonds of their friendship, and it made Nobita love Jaiko even more.

Shizuka would be out there sitting with Dekisugi, with whom she had started a tentative relationship. Gian and Suneo would also be with them to celebrate this happy day. His mother and father would also be there, his mother would be dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief while his father would be grinning with happiness.

Nobita could see all this happening and soothed his frantic heartbeat somewhat.

He straightened up and took one last look at himself in the mirror.

"Nothing could go wrong today," he said to himself.

DDD

Doraemon watched as the seated crowd steadily grew. It had come at last, the day had he had both anticipated and dreaded.

A whole year of maintaining a cheery façade, when he wanted to cry so much.

A whole of year smuggling goods to his friends who were fighting for their lives while he was safe and sound, helping Nobita plan the wedding.

Sometimes during the year, Doraemon almost hated Nobita's obliviousness.

Almost.

He could never truly hate the person he loved like a brother. Nobita's obliviousness to Doraemon's turmoil was not his fault.

Only Doraemon's own fault.

Doraemon had been spending the whole year, in truth, much longer than that to prepare Nobita for the day when he would no longer be there. Doraemon had been trying to distance himself from Nobita, so that when the time came for them to part, it would be less painful.

Doraemon hoped it would work for Nobita, because it had only made things worse for himself. Doraemon wanted to cry and tell Nobita that he wanted to stay and be part of Nobita's life forever; he wanted to be there to help Nobita raise his kids, to be there for everything good and bad that would happen in Nobita's life.

But he can't.

It was as Sewashi said; Doraemon's job was to turn Nobita's life around so that Sewashi's life would improve. Doraemon had succeeded.

He almost wished that he hadn't.

Doraemon sighed. He was being selfish. Today belonged to Nobita and Jaiko. He would put up a smile for them. He will cheer for them when they tie the knot. He will congratulate Nobita after the wedding.

After that, he will return to the future, and fight alongside his friends.

DDD

It had been a year of war.

Their numbers had been decimated, many falling beneath the company mercenaries and government soldiers.

The cat-robots had had some minor victories at the start of the war; they managed to capture several of the company warehouses for supplies and temporarily crippled the computer system that controlled the law-enforcement robots that the government had sent to hunt them down.

The first major battle had occurred when the company mercenaries and police, totalling up to 300 men, discovered one of the cat-robots' hideouts which they had been using as a station to evacuate non-combatant cat-robots to different moments in time to hide. The company and government forces had attacked when about a hundred cat-robots were being evacuated. The fighters on the cat-robots side had been prepared, and fought ferociously so that their fellows could escape. Well over two hundred of the company and police forces had died, while the rest were critically wounded. The cat-robots had also sustained heavy losses in that battle, but it was their victory.

Losing that many men shook the government and company. They hadn't thought that the peaceful cat-robots would fight so violently. This resulted in government bringing in the military and the company resorting to their more well-trained mercenaries. The tide had since turned against the cat-robots.

Even then, the cat-robots had fought with a ferocity and tenacity that few would have thought possible. For every cat-robot that fell, at least four mercenaries and government soldier would also fall while many more were wounded. Some of the cat-robots had even resorted to suicide bombing when cornered.

Many non-combatant cat-robots had also escaped into the past, despite the Time Patrol best efforts to stop them. Time Patrol officers who have managed to apprehend those escaping found themselves being savagely attack by the captured cat-robots. Some of the cat-robots escaping resorted to crashing their time machines into the Time Patrol ships in order to allow their fellows to escape.

Despite the company and government's best attempts, they failed to capture the ringleaders of the cat-robots' resistance: Wang Dora, Dora-Med, Dora Nichov, El Matadora, Dora Rinho and Dora Kid. Whenever the six were cornered and their capture seemed inevitable, company and government reinforcements arrived only to find that their men had been beaten or killed and the six leaders had escaped.

Slowly, painstakingly and with heavy casualties, the government and company forces had managed to chase the cat-robots back to their last base, the old Tokyo Dome. They had besieged the cat-robots and had bombarded them continuously. The cat-robots continued to resist but the outcome of the war was now clear.

All in all, the war had cost both sides heavily.

DDD

"I've got some news," said Wang, sitting heavily at the table.

The other five looked up wearily. All of them bore wounds of some sort from the war. Nichov had lost his left ear, Matadora had patches all over his body as did Kid, Rinho's had a gash near his right eye that was so deep that the metal underneath could be seen. Med was attending to the gash.

"Good news, I hope?" said Med wearily.

"Just news," answered Wang. "We've evacuated the last of the non-fighters last night."

The others nodded. About two thousand of the non-combatants had been evacuated and hopefully, they would survive to continue the struggle.

"Anything else?" asked Kid.

"Nobita-kun's getting married now," said Wang. "I've sent our cards to him."

The others smiled. Even in the midst of the war, their fondness for Nobita had allowed them to make a card and through Dorami, they had managed to send it to him.

"So I guess we've achieved what we set out to do," said Med. "We've evacuated the non-combatants, there's nothing left for us to fight for."

Wang nodded grimly.

"We're surrounded and outnumbered," he said. "There are only about five hundred of us left, and all of us are in the HQ. The next time we're attacked, it'll probably be our last."

Silence followed.

"I guess the question now would be: do we stay in here and let them bombard us to the last man?" said Matadora. "Or do we go out in a blaze of glory?"

He eyed every one of them. His friends and his comrades.

His _brothers_.

All of them smiled and put their hands together.

Their fate was decided.

How they would embrace it was up to them.


	13. Chapter 12

Nobita took a deep breath, ready to go and wait for his bride at the altar when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said.

The door swung open to reveal his best friend since he was a kid: Doraemon. The blue cat-robot was dressed in tux and had the familiar wide smile on his face that no one but Nobita could see did not quite reach his wide eyes.

Doraemon walked forward and hugged Nobita tightly around the waist. Nobita hugged him back.

"Sorry about that," said Doraemon, pulling back and looking up at Nobita.

Just when had the cowardly crybaby grown so tall? There was also a presence to Nobita's entire being; a sense of reliability that had never been there when he was still a kid. Doraemon's smile, as false and fragile as wet paint in a rain, faltered a little. Nobita had outgrown Doraemon completely. The cat-robot knew that well enough now. Nobita could handle any challenges that life will throw at him without Doraemon's help.

"I just want to say," said Doraemon, forcing the smile the stay in place. "I am so very proud of you, Nobita-kun."

Nobita smiled, embarrassed.

"Hey now," he said, punching Doraemon lightly on the cheek. "I haven't tied the knot just yet. Plenty of things could still go wrong, and knowing our history, it probably will."

Both of them chuckled, fondly remembering all their adventures together.

"Well then, I'd better head to the altar first," said Doraemon, turning to the door. "I am the best man after all."

"Doraemon."

The cat-robot paused, not turning to look at Nobita.

"Are you alright?" Nobita asked, concern in his voice. "You haven't been yourself since…the past few years actually. Is something wrong? Something's wrong isn't it?"

Doraemon bit his lip. He couldn't tell Nobita the truth that his friends are fighting in a hopeless war, that he would be going to fight, and very likely die alongside them. He couldn't tell Nobita that he had felt so lonely all those years as Nobita had grown more independent. To Doraemon, it had been like a strange race. Nobita had always been running behind him, and he had always slowed his pace for Nobita. Always there to help Nobita up whenever the boy fell. But then, Nobita had started to overtake him, and before long, no matter how hard Doraemon had run, Nobita was always ahead and the distance between them had increased.

_I've always wanted to shout; wait for me! I waited for you didn't I? Why won't you wait for me?_

Doraemon closed his eyes and a tired smile ghosted his wide lips. The race metaphor was perhaps the most adequate way to describe Nobita's growth. Especially considering the boy, no, _man _now, had always finished last.

But Doraemon couldn't say that now. Today was Nobita's day, he should feel nothing but happiness.

"I'm alright, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon, turning to Nobita, the fake smile back on his face. "I've just been a little lonely, having to accept that you've grown up and that you no longer need me."

In a single stride, Nobita closed the distance between them and pulled the cat-robot into a hug.

"Don't you ever say that, baka," said Nobita fiercely. "You're my best friend, you're my brother. You've been through everything with me. You've seen me at my best and at my worst. No matter how hopeless things looked, you've always been there to encourage me, to tell me to keep trying, to smack my face every time I so much as considered giving up."

Nobita pulled away and looked into Doraemon's wide, tearing eyes.

"Doraemon, everything I am today, I owe it to you. You understand me?"

Doraemon blinked the tears away. He could feel all his efforts to create distance between him and Nobita falling apart. This wasn't part of his plans.

But…

Doraemon was happy. Nobita's words had lifted some of the heavy dread in his heart. But he must not give in to it. He had to leave.

"Everything you are, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon. "You owe it to no one but yourself. You've always had the capability; I did nothing but helped you find it within yourself. I've done nothing at all, you understand? Nothing."

Nobita opened his mouth to protest, to insist that Doraemon had very much been involved molding him, but the cat-robot shushed him.

"I'll see you at altar," said Doraemon, smiling. "You should get there before your bride does."

DDD

After Doraemon left, Nobita stared at the door for a long while. Something seems off with Doraemon, and Nobita knew it's been going on for years now, roughly since his college years. He tried to get Doraemon to talk but the car-robot had insisted that nothing was wrong.

Nobita sighed; he knew Doraemon well enough to know when he was lying.

Suddenly the door swung open, and Hidetoshi Dekisugi, Suneo and Gian barged in loudly.

"HEY HEY!"

"We just wanted to congratulate you one last time, Nobita-san."

"Ah, who would've thought you'd end up being my brother-in-law!"

The three of them surrounded Nobita, continuing to congratulate him loudly.

"Damn it you bastard," boomed Gian. "You and Jaiko…you'd better keep her happy, you understand?"

Nobita chuckled, nodding.

"Ah, I wonder whose turn it'd be next?" said Suneo as he threw an arm around Nobita's shoulders.

"You could always get your parents to set you up with some rich girl," said Nobita, grinning.

"That's not enough for me!" cried Suneo dramatically. "Money's nothing to a man, a man needs a woman who'll love him!."

"Money's nothing to a man, eh?" repeated Nobita, as the others chuckled. "Only someone with too money could say such a thing."

They fell quiet, the silence comforting among the four of them.

"Today's your day, my brother," said Gian, punching Nobita lightly on the shoulder. "You go get her, alright?"

Suneo and Gian left for the main hall, but Hidetoshi stayed behind.

"I'm really happy for you, Nobita-san," he said, smiling a little sadly.

"Thank you, Hide-kun," answered Nobita, smiling back.

"Shizu-cha…Shizuka-san is also happy for you," Hidetoshi added slowly, carefully. As though handling a dangerous bomb.

The smile on Nobita's face stiffened slightly. Even though he had forgiven Shizuka and he understood that Hidetoshi was blameless in that…betrayal, it was a topic that still stung slightly for Nobita.

As though realizing that, Hidetoshi bowed to Nobita.

"I'm…so sorry for all the pain both of us have caused you," he began, but Nobita stopped him.

"Hide-kun, please don't bow," said Nobita. "I've already forgiven Shizuka, and you, even though you weren't to blame. I have Jaiko now, and I love her to death. You and Shizuka should be happy together. Stop blaming yourselves for what happened to the past and move on. You understand me?"

Hidetoshi shook his head in amazement.

"Nobita-san, you are a very good man," he said. "Shizuka and I will pray for your everlasting happiness."

Nobita smiled as he watched Hidetoshi leave. He immediately remembered Doraemon, but he saw on his wristwatch that it was almost time.

Nobita sighed.

Maybe he was reading into it too much.

DDD

The wedding was beautiful. Nobita had stood at the altar, Doraemon smiling at his side. All their friends were there, though Nobita wished that some of the friends he made during his adventures were there. He could see some of them, dressed as normal humans. He smiled, his heart warm with affection for them as they had crossed the galaxy, some of them from the depths of the sea just to bear witness to his marriage.

Then Jaiko arrived. Nobita knew because the confetti started to fall as she approached.

Nobita looked at her, she was dressed in white, her face veiled. Nobita felt his heartbeat quicken.

When he was finally allowed to lift the veil, Nobita felt his heart stop altogether.

She was beautiful. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, her lips curved into a shy smile and whether it was the effect of the makeup or the wonderful atmosphere of the day, she was simply radiant.

Nobita had to suppress a chuckle as he tried to find something in the beautiful woman before him that remotely resembled the stocky Giant lookalike he once remembered.

And then they kissed.

For the first time as husband and wife.

DDD

The celebration was going on all around him, but Doraemon sat quietly at his table, eating dorayaki without his usual enthusiasm. He ate because he wanted to make sure that he would never forget the taste of the wonderful treat. Hoping that he could dull the pain of what was to come.

Nobita suddenly popped into the seat next to him. The man's face was flushed with happiness, the drink and the day.

"Hey, don't finish all those," he said jokingly. "The other guests would still want some."

Doraemon forced himself to chuckle.

"C'mon Doraemon," said Nobita, him from the seat. "Let's go and hang out with our friends."

And despite knowing what was to come, despite not wanting to cause himself anymore pain, Doraemon did. Just for one last time, he wanted to laugh with his friends from 20th century.

DDD

That night, at the old house, while everyone was still celebrating outside, (Nobita had bought a bigger house for his parents and Jaiko, they'd move out soon) Doraemon stood alone in the room, looking around. The room was so full of memories.

He could still see Nobita napping on the floor, drooling. He could see Nobita bouncing a ball for the little plesiosaur, Pisuke. He could see Nobita cuddling with the little puppy, Ichi. He could almost see all the times that he and Nobita had quarreled, laughed and all the things they did together.

Doraemon allowed a tear to fall.

It was the only one he would allow.

He placed a small wrapped box in the middle of the room, addressed to Nobita.

He opened the drawer of the desk and looked in; he could see the Time-space tunnel warping within.

Doraemon turned to look around the room one last time.

"Thank you for all the memories, all the good times and everything, Nobita-kun," he whispered quietly.

With that, he jumped onto his Time Machine and sped off towards the 22nd century, towards war, towards his doom.

Doraemon never looked back.


	14. Chapter 13

The last of the guests had left. Nobita's parents had gone to bed, leaving him, his wife, Suneo, Gian, Dekisugi and Shizuka out in the garden. The two women were chatting quietly together while the men were drinking and trading jokes.

Except for Nobita.

He kept looking around the garden for a certain blue cat-robot that he noticed had gone missing since they got back from community hall where the wedding took place. He hadn't thought much of it with all the guests, family members and old friends busy congratulating him and demanding his attention. He thought that he might have just missed Doraemon in the crowd somewhere.

But now, he still couldn't find Doraemon anywhere in the garden or the ground floor of the house. He was growing worried.

Nobita excused himself and headed back into the house. He looked in the kitchen, tried the bathroom, even the storeroom.

He finally looked upstairs.

His room was dark as he crossed it straight to the cupboard where Doraemon slept. He found the futon that Doraemon used was neatly folded. Nobita looked searched the cupboard further, realizing that it had been long time since he had looked into it. He saw the old 4th dimensional trashcan where Doraemon disposed his unwanted gadgets or any rubbish. He found a photo of him, Doraemon and his mother and father having a picnic among the sakura trees. He also found a worn out exam paper. Looking closely, Nobita found that it was a maths paper with the number 77 scrawled on the top right corner in faded red ink.

Nobita smiled. This was the exam paper he had sat for after Doraemon refused to lend Nobita any gadgets to help him cheat and insisted that he studied all those years ago. Now that Nobita thought back, things had started to change since then. Doraemon had become much sterner, more encouraging and more insistent that Nobita tackle problems to the best of his own ability.

Still looking at the exam paper, Nobita took a step back, stepping on something. Looking down, Nobita found a wrapped box. On it, he found a piece of folded paper with _To Nobita_ written in what he recognised as Doraemon's handwriting.

Nobita opened the parcel and found an album inside. He opened it and saw numerous photos, photos that Doraemon must have painstakingly gathered over the years. Nobita found a picture of him and his friends with a fully grown Pisuke, a picture of Doraemon with Poko the robot and Queen Jeanne of the Robot Kingdom, a picture of Nobita with Hachi, Suneo, Gian and Nobita with Gusuke from the world of Birdmen, Shizuka and the fairy-like Freya…

Pictures of all their adventures together. Doraemon had taken photos of those moments and compiled them all together and left it to Nobita…

_He left it all for me…_

_He left it…_

_He left…_

Nobita looked up from the album, his heart filling with sudden dread. His eyes went to piece of folded paper that had been on the box and unfolded it. It was a letter from Doraemon.

_Dear Nobita,_

_By the time you read this, I'd have already left. I'm sorry for the sudden departure, but my friends in the future are in trouble and they need me._

_I know you'll wonder, what kind of trouble? But you don't have to worry about it._

_I know you've been worried about me for the past few years, but I was telling the truth when I said it was because I've been a little lonely because of you growing up. You've grown from a helpless idiot of a boy into a reliable, independent man, and it was my privilege to witness that. Do you realised that other that disastrous incident with Shizuka and your proposal with Jaiko, you haven't come running to me for help in years? I'll admit that I miss it a little._

_But other than that selfish feeling of mine, I'm proud of you Nobita. I know I've said it many times before, but I want you to not only know that, I want you to believe that._

_You no longer need me to hold your hand, Nobita. Whatever you want, you can do it. You have the ability to do it. _

_Believe in yourself, Nobita, and the world is yours for the taking._

_For this last bit, I didn't want to put this in here, but I feel you deserve to know this at least. I know you might be wondering if you'll ever see me again. I'm sorry to say this Nobita, but you'll never see me again. Forgive me for having to do this._

_Have a good life, Nobita._

_Your friend, your brother,_

_Doraemon. _

Nobita looked up, alarmed. What on earth did Doraemon mean that he'll never see him again? Nobita lunged for the cupboard and quickly threw the pillow inside aside. He found what he was looking for.

Doraemon's spare pocket.

Nobita spared of a minute to reminisce on how he used to drive Doraemon nuts for stealing the pocket for his own needs, before attempting to climb through it. The pocket was connected to the pocket on Doraemon's belly, it was a sure-fire way to get to Doraemon…

Something inside the pocket electrocuted Nobita, preventing him from entering the pocket. Nobita collapsed to the floor, gasping in shock. Doraemon must've done that to prevent Nobita from finding him. Nobita recovered and tried rummaging into the pocket and found that he could. He quickly found what he was looking for: the Time TV.

Pressing a few buttons, he finally got through to Dorami.

"Nobita-kun," greeted Dorami, looking surprised and happy to see him. "How are you? Congratulations on your marriage!"

"Thanks," replied Nobita distractedly. "Dorami-chan, where's Doraemon? Did he go back to you guys?"

"Oni-san? No, he hasn't," answered Dorami in surprise. "I thought he's still over there with you."

"No, he left," said Nobita, barely keeping the panic out of his voice. "He set up something inside his spare pocket so I can't get to him. He wrote in a letter that I'll never see him again."

Dorami gasped, her eyes widening as she raised her hands to cover her mouth.

A feeling of dread settled heavily in Nobita's heart.

"Dorami-chan, what's wrong?" Nobita asked urgently.

"It…it can't be!" cried Dorami hysterically. "I thought he'd give me a warning, or at least tell me…"

The dread in Nobita's heart grew heavier.

"I should've tried harder! I should've tried to stop him…" Dorami continued, tears falling from her eyes.

"Dorami," said Nobita, the calm in his voice silencing her. "Tell me everything."

DDD

The Time Patrol officer ran a hand through his greying beard, sighing. The past year had worn him out. He had had to arrest many cat-robots whom he saw as innocent and had to send them back to their timeline.

To their destruction.

He had no choice, he was ordered by the government to do so. But he had hated every minute of it. It got even worse when some of the cat-robots had started fighting back, some of them desperately crashing their Time Machines into the Time Patrol ships, destroying the ships and themselves, killing many of subordinates.

_Even the meek will fight to kill when cornered_ he thought wearily.

Suddenly, the alarms on his ship went off. He immediately went to the Surveillance Officer.

"What's happening, more of the cat-robots trying to escape?" he asked.

The Surveillance Officer shook his head. "No, this one's trying to get in."

"What?" Why would a cat-robot be trying to get into the 22nd century? "Is it a different batch? Not one of the ones we're after?"

"No sir," answered the Surveillance Officer. "Scans confirm that this one's from the batch we're after."

"What is he thinking?" muttered the Officer. "Give me a visual."

The large screen flickered to life, revealing a blue, earless cat-robot on a Time Machine going full speed at them.

The Time Patrol Officer frowned; the car-robot looked familiar…

Then he realised, it was Doraemon, the cat-robot who was the companion of a kid from 20th century. The cat-robot and the kid had helped him out (mostly inadvertently) in dealing with many Time criminals.

"Do we fire, sir?" asked one of his junior officers.

"Hold your fire," he ordered. "Patch me through to him."

"Sir?"

"Do it."

The junior officer obeyed and handed him a communicator.

"Doraemon-san, do you recognise me?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence before he got an answer.

"Yes, I'm sorry that it's you."

Ominous, the cat-robot wasn't going to back down.

"Doraemon-san, you've been of great service to the Time Patrol several times in the past before," he said. "Please, turn around and in recognition of that service, we'll let you go."

The other officers gaped at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry," the cat-robot answered. "I don't want to fight you. Stand down."

"Doraemon-san, please," pleaded the Officer. "I'm under orders to arrest or destroy any cat-robots from your batch entering or leaving the 22nd century. Please turn around. If you persist, I will have no choice but open fire."

"Then I'm afraid we have nothing more to talk about," the car-robot answered grimly.

The Officer sighed with regret.

"Open fire."

Immediately the Time Patrol ships fired missiles and energy beams at the oncoming cat-robot. Faster than the Officer could see, the cat-robot performed a series of swerves and dives to dodge most of the attack, the few that would've hit were suddenly deflected. The cot-robot was holding a black-cloth that was identified as a Deflection Cloth.

Suddenly, a huge flash erupted from Doraemon, blinding the Time Patrol officers.

"What's going on?"

"My eyes!"

"Get a visual! Get a visual!"

"Oh shit!"

The Officer's eyes widened, seeing a series of missiles that could only have come from the black market fired from the cat-robot's direction.

"Shields up! Shields up, damn it!"

"Too late!"

Several of the Time Patrol ships exploded into crimson fireballs. The Officer's ship survived, but with so many wounded on board, the ship was in no shape to handle the renegade cat-robot.

In the chaos, Doraemon slipped through and returned to the 22nd century.


	15. Chapter 14

Nobita stared at the weeping Dorami via the Time TV, his face blank with shock. Dorami had told him everything; about how the cat-robots of Doraemon's batch had been recalled for 'disposal', about how the Doraemon's friends had attempted to resist through the courts and failed and most of all, about the war that had taken place in the past year.

Nobita felt shame flooding his entire being.

He had known that Doraemon had been keeping something from him for years. He had known, but instead of pushing Doraemon to tell him the truth, he had accepted the obvious lie that Doraemon had used many times.

_Everything's alright. I just feel a little lonely now that you've grown up._

Such an obvious lie.

Doraemon had kept quiet to avoid causing Nobita distress while he suffered in silence as so many of his friends died in battle. Now Doraemon had gone to fight with them.

"Dorami," said Nobita, the calmness in his voice cutting across Doraemon's little sister's crying. "I need to get to him, can you help?"

Dorami nodded slowly, wiping her tears. "I can go over to you with my Time Machine…but what can you do?"

"The Time Patrol won't stop you?" Nobita asked, ignoring the question.

Dorami shook her head. "I'm not from the wanted batch."

"Good," said Nobita, his hand tightening around Doraemon's spare pocket. He was going to need a lot of Doraemon's gadgets. "Get over here as soon as you can, please."

"But Nobita-kun," said Dorami, looking frightened. "What are you going to do?"

Nobita's face remained carefully blank as he answered.

"I'm going to save him."

DDD

The Time TV's screen had been blank for nearly ten minutes, but Nobita still sat before it, looking down at the spare pocket in his hands.

He had remembered the countless times he had stolen it whenever Doraemon had refused to help him. He had always ended up in trouble, and Doraemon had had to bail him out nearly all the time. Sometimes though, Doraemon would decide to punish Nobita by leaving him in the mess that he had created.

Yet, Nobita remembered there were a few times that the spare pocket had allowed Nobita to save Doraemon. He remembered during the Tin-Plate Labyrinth adventure, Doraemon had been captured by hostile robots and had been tortured so badly to the point that he was physically immobilised. Nobita and the others had tried to find him but failed, until Nobita found the spare pocket and was able to get to Doraemon.

Now, while Doraemon had set up some sort of defence mechanism in the spare pocket to prevent Nobita from getting through, he could still get gadgets from it. He was going to use them to save his best friend, though he had no idea about what he's up against.

"You can't be seriously considering going without us."

The voice startled Nobita from his thoughts. He turned and saw Gian, Suneo, Shizuka, Dekisugi and Jaiko standing in the doorway.

"We heard everything," said Suneo. "Now you're going to rush off to save Doraemon, right?"

"Well, we're coming with you!" declared Gian loudly, beating his chest with his fists.

"Doraemon is our friend too," said Shizuka, her face flushed, but she stared right back at Nobita with fierce, determined eyes.

Nobita smiled, instead of the adults that stood before him, he saw the children they once were, reckless heading into danger together.

"Thank you, everyone."

DDD

It was time.

The final battle had come.

The cat-robots gathered in the main hall, each and every one of them grim and resigned to their fate. They waited for their leaders.

Wang Dora marched forward, his face grim. His Qing dynasty clothing were tattered and torn, but his whole demeanour exuded a dignity that made the other cat-robots lower their heads to him in reverence. He was their leader; he had led the negotiations; when that failed, he stood at the frontline with the others; his mastery of kung-fu was such that he became a whirlwind of destruction among his enemies.

Dora-Med followed behind, his turban nothing more than a rag on his head. The other cat-robots respected him for his tireless efforts at treating the wounded. Many were witness to him going several nights without sleep as he attempted to treat even those beyond help, and many more witness to his tears whenever he had failed. In battle, his mastery of magic and black arts had wreaked havoc on the enemy lines.

Alongside Dora-Med was Dora-Nichov, his eyes as sleepy as ever. Despite his slothful appearance, he was the ever-vigilant sentinel; warning them hours ahead before their enemies came. It was thanks to him, that the cat-robots were rarely caught off-guard. In battle, his enemies have come to name him the Demon Wolf.

Behind came El Matadora and Dora Kid. The two of them had become living legends throughout the war, forming an unstoppable duo in battle. Kid with his marksmanship had thrown the enemy into chaos from afar numerous times; and as they tried to regroup, El Matadora would charge in and with his strength, cause further devastation.

Dora-Rinho followed behind last of all. He and Wang were both the main strategists at the start of the war. But with Wang also handling the responsibility of being leader, Rinho had gradually become the main strategist. It was thanks to him, that many of the non-combative cat-robots had escaped, but the cat-robots also knew that Rinho felt that he had failed. The deaths of so many of his comrades had turned Rinho grim; he saw their deaths as his failures.

They were the six leaders of the cat-robot resistance. They had done their best to lead the cat-robots in the war and had earned the trust and respect of every cat-robot that followed them.

Now, even as they march to their final battle, the cat-robots would follow them to the end.

But then, another cat-robot marched among their exalted leaders. He was blue and had no ears. His face was a mask of grimness and resignation.

Slowly, the other cat-robots recognised him.

He too, was a legend among them.

Doraeman.

They knew he had aided in the war by supplying the resistance with resources. He had not been able to join in the war itself because he had an important task in the past.

Until now.

Many of the cat-robots had overheard their leaders discussing the battles they lost, and many times, they heard their leaders say: _if only Doraemon were here…_

The phrase became some sort of mantra among the cat-robots. It had led many to believe that if Doraemon had fought alongside them at the start of the war, things might have turned out differently.

But they knew it was just a lie. A lie that have given them something to hope for.

Some may have resented Doraemon for not fighting at the start of the war, but where he could have just stayed away, he had returned, single-handedly destroying several Time Patrol ships in the process. He had returned to fight in a battle they all knew was already lost.

For that, they would honour him as they would their leaders.

DDD

_Eight hours before…_

"It's almost time," said Kid, polishing his Air Cannon.

The other five nod their heads grimly. They had stayed together, not talking much, just basking in each other's presence before their final battle came. Words no longer had much meaning between them; their mere presence was all they needed.

Wang tried to meditate, but knowing that his end was near, he felt that meditating was such a trivial thing. Instead, he watched his comrades, remembering the good times they all had together so long ago, before all the horrors of the war…

A sharp knock on the door shook him from his thoughts. Immediately, he and the others straightened up, ready to fight.

"Enter," said Wang.

Another cat-robot entered, breathing heavily.

"Wang-san," he said, panting. "About an hour ago, we received reports that several Time Patrol ships had been destroyed."

"More of us escaping?" asked Wang. "I thought all the non-combatants had escaped?"

"No, Wang-san," panted the cat-robot. "This one was coming here."

"Who?" asked Wang.

"Maybe some of those who escaped decided it was better to come back to fight," suggested Matadora.

"You don't understand, sirs," said the cat-robot. "It was one cat-robot."

The six leaders gaped. One lone cat-robot destroying several Time Patrol ships? It was unthinkable.

"That cat-robot is here now," the cat-robot went on.

He stepped aside, revealing a blue, earless cat-robot.

"DORAEMON!" the six of them yelled simultaneously.

As one, they jumped onto him, cheering and laughing as though the whole war had never happened.

"What are you doing here?" cried Wang, hugging Doraemon tightly.

"I came to fight with you guys," answered Doraemon, hugging him back.

They stared at him, the joy at having their comrade back dying down as the reality of the situation came back.

"You came back just to die," stated Kid bluntly.

Doraemon said nothing.

"Why?" cried Med, shaking Doraemon's shoulder. "Why would you want to do that?"

Doraemon smiled ruefully. "How could just stand by and let my friends die? I'm going to fight alongside you guys, whether you like it or not."

"But…what about Nobita-kun?" asked Rinho.

At the mention of Nobita, a light suddenly entered Doraemon's eyes.

"I've done everything I could for Nobita-kun," said Doraemon happily. "He's married, and his whole future's looking very bright. He'll be fine without me."

"Are you sure?" asked Wang, looking at Doraemon carefully.

Doraemon nodded. "Now that Nobita's going to be fine, I can fight without worrying about him anymore."

"If you're sure…" said Wang, still uncertain. While he was glad that Doraemon was here, he did not want his friend throwing his happiness away.

"Of course I'm sure," said Doraemon with mock-irritation. He rummaged into his pocket and pulled out a huge plastic bag. "I brought dorayaki! Let's have a big meal eh!"

Laughing, the seven of them settled down to their last meal together, spending their last few precious hours together as though the war never happened.


	16. Chapter 15

_First of all, I must apologise for the direction the story has taken. I realise that it's become darker than any true fans of Doraemon would expect and I must apologise if that offended anyone. I assure you...I understand that Doraemon is all about friendship and I haven't forgotten that. I might've taken it to the extreme what with the war and death description...again, I assure you that I will remain true to the essence of this wonderful manga by Fujio F. Fujiko...I guess you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to realise what I'm talking about._

* * *

_Home Is Behind  
The World Ahead  
And There Are Many Paths To Tread  
Through Shadow  
To The Edge Of Night  
Until The Stars Are All Alight_

_Mist And Shadow_  
_Cloud And Shade_  
_All Shall Fade_  
_All Shall...Fade_

-Peregrin Took, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King-

DDD

A war in the 22nd Century was a rare ordeal, with only one happening at the start of the century and lasting two years. Most of the world governments had learned their lesson from their predecessors in the 21st Century and now the world was peaceful, with armies mostly acting in the same capacity as the police.

So the irony that the first war fought in any nation would take place in Japan against cat-robots that were known to be gentle and harmless was not lost on General Yagami Goda. He too had disagreed with the government's decision to aid the company in the destruction of the renegade cat-robots, but such things would have normally been beneath his notice, as he had to direct the peace-keeping duties against space pirates.

But then the cat-robots had fought back ferociously and with a tenacity that had left the government police force reeling, and Goda had been summoned back to deal with the insurrection. He had been successful, but the cost had been great.

_Even the most docile beings would fight to kill when cornered_, he thought grimly.

Now, the renegade cat-robot forces had been routed to their last stronghold: the old Tokyo Stadium, where the final battle was too take place.

Yagami Goda wiped the sweat of his brow, his shoulders tense as he scanned the stadium for movement from his command point.

A loud noise interrupted him and he turned.

A man in a business suit, his hair slicked back and his cold, cruel eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses marched directly towards him.

Mamoru Daichi.

He was the owner of hundreds of robotic factories across the world.

Goda had instinctively disliked the man, as the man tended to consider things in terms of profits, assets and liabilities. He also knew that Daichi could've have just had the cat-robots reprogrammed or just simply left alone, but the man's greed and dislike for what he saw as obsolete technology had demanded their destruction.

In the end, it had cost far more.

"What are you waiting for?" demanded Daichi, his voice like an angry bull. "Why don't you just shoot the damn stadium and end it all?"

Goda turned his back on the man and continued to watch the stadium.

"Tokyo Stadium is a National Heritage Building," he replied, careful to keep his voice free of any emotion. "We will not fire on the stadium unless the cat-robots attack from it."

He could sense Daichi's scowl and could hear him muttering something about useless buildings.

He resisted the urge to turn and shoot the man.

"When it comes to it, I will offer the cat-robots a chance to surrender," Goda continued.

"What?" snapped Daichi. "You know they wouldn't accept it! They've had their chance to surrender! Instead they've fought ME! My own products turned on ME! They're defective; you should just burn them all out…"

Goda turned and looked Daichi right in the eye.

"They maybe YOUR products," he said with thinly concealed rage. "But YOUR desire to destroy them has led to casualties of MY men! I will not have any more of my men dying unnecessarily, as the whole war had been unnecessary from the start!"

Daichi's face turned red with rage and he opened his mouth to shout but Goda cut him off.

"You could have just left them alone," he hissed. "You might've seen them as 'defective', but I've known that these cat-robots have done nothing but been quiet contributors to our society. You could have just kept producing more high-tech robots and left them to their own devices. They've never caused anyone any harm until you've launched this ridiculous campaign to destroy this batch! All the deaths that have happened, both cat-robot and human alike, are your fault!"

Goda turned away. He risked murdering the man if he continued to look at him.

Behind him, Daichi snorted.

"Cat-robot deaths? They can't die if they never had life in the first place."

Goda clenched his teeth.

"Get out."

DDD

"This is it."

The six leaders of the rebellion and Doraemon stood on the roof of the stadium, looking down at the forces that surrounded the stadium. They had come up with a plan to fight.

It was a solid plan.

There was no chance of survival whatsoever.

But it would ensure that the company, and all those who fought against them would never be able to forget them.

The thought of that brought a grim smile to Doraemon's lips. He remembered going to watch a movie with Nobita called _Gladiator_. The movie had one famous line: _What we do in life echoes in eternity_.

It was appropriate for this situation.

The other cat-robots within the stadium are all moving to their designated spots, prepared for their final battle. Doraemon and his friends, their presence on the roof still unnoticed, waited, ready to give the signal to attack.

Idly, Doraemon wondered if Nobita had finished his homework before remembering that those days were long gone.

"Doraemon."

Doraemon turned to see Wang, who was gazing at him both thoughtfully and sadly.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" the Kung Fu master asked.

"I told you, Wang, Nobita-kun will be…" began Doraemon, but his friend cut him off.

"It's not Nobita-kun I'm worried about," said Wang. "It's you. It's not too late; you can go back to Nobita-kun. None of us will blame you for it."

Doraemon bit his lip before shaking his head.

"No, my place is here, with all of you," said Doraemon. When Wang still looked uncertain, Doraemon playfully knocked him on the head.

"You're the leader of the rebellion," said Doraemon, forcing himself to sound cheerful. "You need your head clear for this, not worrying about some beat-up, substandard cat-robot."

Wang's lips quirked a little.

Matadora marched up to them.

"Wang, the preparations are complete."

Wang nodded and called the other five to them.

As Wang went over the plan one last time, Doraemon looked around at his friends' faces, burning them into his memory.

DDD

Dorami's Time Machine passed through the wreckage of the Time Patrol ships still drifting in the Time Space.

Behind her, Nobita, Gian, Suneo, Shizuka and Hidetoshi stared at the wreckage grimly.

"This bad…" murmured Nobita, more to himself, but Dorami heard and nodded.

"The cat-robots have been desperate," she said calmly, but Nobita could detect undertones of panic in her voice. Dorami continued to tell them about the situation but Nobita had slipped back into his own thoughts.

He thought about Jaiko, waiting for him back in the 20th Century. She had wanted to come with him and had been furious when he had forbid her from doing so. In the end, she had relented and had seized his hand.

"Come back to me," she had said fiercely. "Come back with him."

Seeing the wreckage, a testament to the horrors of the war had shaken Nobita's resolve. He had thought about his loving wife and family, all of them waiting for him back home…

Then he thought about Doraemon who had been there for him. His greatest friend who had quietly suffered as his friends were massacred, who had continued to look out for Nobita nonetheless, who had manage to put on a smile for Nobita even though Nobita could see it was false.

Doraemon is part of his family.

Part of his life.

Nobita hardened his heart as Dorami finally reached the entrance to the 22nd Century.

DDD

They had been given the chance to surrender.

The end result would've been the same regardless.

Instead of answering, Wang gave Doraemon the order to signal the others.

A series of spherical balls flew in every direction of the army surrounding the stadium. The soldiers scrambled for cover, but the spheres never exploded.

"Shield your eyes!" shouted Wang.

A second later, every one of the spheres erupted with a flash of white light, blinding the soldiers who had the misfortune to be staring at the time.

"NOW!" roared Kid.

Air cannons and energy guns fired from the stadium.

Missiles and grenades flew.

Gallons of hot, sticky fluids ensnared the soldiers.

The effect was devastating.

Up on the roof of the stadium, Med chanted strange words, his eyes shining with magic. With a shout, he released bolts of lightning towards the soldiers below, adding to the devastation and carnage. Kid fired in every direction, his shots seemingly random but hitting tanks, command posts and soldiers with frightening accuracy.

Doraemon hardened his heart against the agonised screams below.

Finally, the soldiers recovered and began to return fire.

The cat-robots deflected the shots using Reverse Mantles, turning the shots back to the soldiers. The soldiers continued to fire, raining down bolts of energy onto the cat-robots until they began to overwhelm them with sheer numbers.

Just as the tide seem to turn against the cat-robots, the soldiers suddenly found themselves taken down by cat-robots who suddenly appeared in their midst using the Pass Loops. Tanks and artillery were sabotaged or destroyed by stealthily placed grenades.

A furry creature dashed back and forth among the soldiers, taking many down. Soon, standing on a pile of beaten soldiers, Nichov open his wolfish mouth and howled with fury. Other soldiers found themselves being manhandled and thrown around by Matadora, who kept plowing through the soldiers like rag dolls. Rinho also joined the fray, delivering devastating kicks to numerous soldiers that resulted in injuries. Wang himself had also joined the battle of the ground, a whirlwind of destruction that scattered the soldiers in all directions.

Flying above, Doraemon fought as ferociously as his comrades. Energy bolts were turned aside with a Reverse Mantle. A blast from an Air Cannon blew soldiers away. Beams from a Small Light shrunk tanks.

Even as he fought what he knew was his last battle, Doraemon kept only repeating one thing in his head: his last words to Nobita.

_Have a good life, Nobita._

_Your friend, your brother,_

_Doraemon_.

A missile narrowly missed him, causing him to look up. His eyes widened.

He saw a huge ship floating towards the stadium.

No, not just a ship.

A Goliath-class battleship. They were designed strictly for use in offshore war, as their cannons dealt unspeakable destruction. That one was going to be used to put down an insurrection by cat-robots spoke volumes of the company's influence.

Doraemon knew that they can't do anything; the cannons on the ship were too powerful for any Reverse Mantle to deflect and their weaponry wouldn't be able to scratch the ship's armour even if they focused all their fire.

Before Doraemon could do anything, the ships opened fire.

There was a flash of blue light and in the blink of eye; Tokyo Stadium was shattered to pieces. Cat-robots died.

Even as the fighting around the stadium area paused in shock, the shockwave from the stadium's destruction sent all combatants flying in every direction.

DDD

"Prepare to fire again," said Daichi, his face expressionless from the ship monitor.

"But sir," the ship gunner protested. "We've already destroyed the stadium and the cat-robots within it! Surely…"

"The cat-robots no longer matter," answered Daichi coldly. "I'm just using this opportunity to test the new cannons that my company created for your battleships."

"But sir, there are people living in the area and our own soldiers!"

"The civilians have already been evacuated. As for the soldiers, the cannon is designed to take out non-biological targets with its shockwave following a shot. They'll be fine."

"But the force from the shockwave could still…"

"You have your orders, officer. I suggest you follow them if you wish to continue your career."

The gunner, his face pale, placed his hand on the controls.

He fired.

Right into what was left of the stadium.

Cat-robots die.

Again and again he was ordered to fire. Exactly at the same spot.

Cat-robots die.


	17. Chapter 16

_Well, after a very long time...mostly due to me slacking off...this story has finally reached the finish line...I'm actually a little sad about that...this story has often kept me awake as I try figure out all angles...but no more...I hope you enjoy this chapter_

* * *

They were too late.

They had rushed to Tokyo Stadium, armed to the teeth, ready to save Doraemon, but all they found was a crater where the stadium once stood. Even the nearer surrounding buildings had not gone unscathed, several having collapsed.

But that was not the worst part.

In the areas surrounding the crater, strewn parts of cat-robots can be seen littering area: severed short arms, rubber ball hands, heads, broken bodies. And among those were whole, but clearly incapacitated human soldiers. Many were still, but some were groaning in pain while a few still had the strength to scream in pain.

Nobita saw and heard them, but his eyes and ears were only searching for one blue cat-robot; everything else had to wait until then.

"What could have caused this?" he asked, turning to Dorami.

Dorami pointed at the departing battleship above.

"Goliath-class battleship," she said in a trembling voice. "Armed with weapons so destructive that their use on Japanese soil was banned."

"Looks like someone used it here anyway," said Gian grimly.

Nobita nodded, his eyes still scanning the destroyed landscape for Doraemon.

"Nobita, how are we going to find Doraemon in all this?" asked Suneo.

Nobita turned to Dorami. "Bring out any gadgets for communication and give one to everyone. Try using the Time TV to find Doraemon. In the meantime, everyone else and myself will use the Take-copter and try to find him from the air."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"But, what if there are people and cat-robots who survived?" asked Shizuka.

At this point, all Nobita cared about was finding Doraemon, but he knew he could never be that heartless.

"Try to help them as best as you can." he said.

Nodding again, everyone except Dorami took to the air.

DDD

Near the southern perimeter of the crater, a broken tank was suddenly flipped over. A cat-robot with horns coughed and spluttered as the dust cleared.

Behind him, a few other cat-robots emerged from a hollowed out area underneath where the tank had been.

"Good job keeping the tank from crushing us, Matadora," said Wang in a weak voice.

Matadora grunted in acknowledgement, too tired to reply.

"What the hell happen?" growled Kid, throwing away his ruined hat as he emerged.

Wang looked up in time to see the Goliath battleship fading away in the distance. "That."

"I thought those things aren't allowed in Japan!" snarled Kid, grief lacing his voice as he surveyed the destroyed area. "They had us cornered, they had us beat! Why would they use it against us?"

"I don't think it was the military," said Med, his turban also gone. He glanced down at his ruined Arabic robes, grimaced and started ripping it off. "Most probably the company, testing out a new weapon."

Wang nodded in agreement while Matadora growled and Kid swore.

"But…how on earth did we survive that attack?" rasped Matadora. "That…that attacked wiped out everything within…ranged…and we were near the centre of it…"

They looked at each other, as if hoping that one of them held the answer.

"I…this…this is how…" said another voice from nearby.

Looking around, the others spotted Rinho emerging from a pile of rubble. Beside him was Nichov, who was carrying…

"…No…" was all Wang managed before he fell to his knees, his tears mercifully blinding him from the sight before him. The others too, were struck with grief, tears pooling from their eyes.

Nichov was carrying the broken body of Doraemon.

The earless, blue cat-robot's body had been partially pulverized, with one leg completely gone and one arm mangled beyond recognition. Nearly half his body had been dented inwards, likely hit by flying rubble. A tear ran down across Doreamon's right eye, revealing the dulled metal and shattered orb behind the skin.

But worse than that was the lifeless, glazed looked in the remaining eye. As wide as it always has been, all of the light that was shined behind it was gone, snuffed out, gleaming only in the light of the dying sun. The wide mouth that had once opened wide in a smile, a greeting and to enthusiastically devour dorayaki was closed in the same lifeless way.

"…he managed to pull it out in time…he…he used an energy shield…" said Rinho, trying to speak coherently through his tears. "…that's what saved us…it…it prevented the shockwave from the blast from frying our…circuits…and managed to reduce the power…power of the explosion…but…he…he couldn't get into the…the shield's…"

Rinho couldn't say anymore, breaking down into tears.

Nichov, his own eyes streaming with tears, raised his head and released a mournful howl.

As the six of them wept in grief, a few other cat-robots who had survived the blast gathered around them silently.

Grieving for their lost comrade.

Grieving for all their lost comrades.

"There they are!"

Wearily, a few of the cat-robots turned their heads towards the voice, but most of them were beyond caring.

Mamoru Daichi stood atop a pile of rubble flanked on either side by a few company mercenaries.

"You blasted defects were more trouble than you were worth," snapped the head of the company. "But it ends here now!"

The mercenaries aimed their guns at the few remaining cat-robots, none of whom even tried to fight back.

Daichi gave the order to fire and turned away, knowing it was over.

Suddenly several Air Cannon blasts from the sky had him falling over and scattering his mercenaries.

"What?" cried Daichi, looking skywards. "Who…"

Five people with Take-copters were swooping down towards him. As his mercenaries tried to fire, one of them fired with a Sticky Gun, ensnaring them in a sticky, semi-fluid substance. Another one of them fired another Air Canon, knocking a few more mercenaries out. A particularly large one landed in front of three unarmed mercenaries.

"Think you can take me?" he roared. "Bring it on."

The three mercenaries tried to tackle him, but found themselves being brutally pummeled instead.

One of the flying people landed among the cat-robots.

"Who the hell are these people?" hissed Daichi.

DDD

Even as Gian physically abused the three mercenaries, Nobita saw him.

Lying broken in Nichov's arms.

Nobita saw nothing else. He just flew straight to Doraemon.

Landing in front of Nichov, he just stood and stared down at the broken cat-robot.

"Nobita-kun…" said Wang, looking up at the man, worried about what he might see and worried for the boy.

Nobita's face was expressionless as he stared down at Doraemon. For a long moment, he just stood still even as Gian, Suneo, Hidetoshi and Shizuka finished off the remaining mercenaries. When they joined him, all of them were horrified to see Doraemon's body.

Finally, slowly, Nobita kneeled down before Nichov, who slowly lowered Doraemon to the ground. Slowly, Nobita placed a hand on Doraemon's partially dented chest, and to everyone's shock, a smile slowly formed on his lips.

"Ne, Doraemon?" said Nobita, smiling and shaking the cat-robot gently. "We're here to take you home. We've got dorayaki waiting for you back home…otousan and okasan are waiting for you back home…"

Shizuka gasped and started sobbing. Hidetoshi pulled her to him and held her tightly even as tears started pooling in his eyes.

"Ne, Doraemon? You're faking this, right? You've been through worst than this and came out just fine. There's no way you can be brought down by something like this…"

Suneo placed his face into his hands, his shoulders trembling as he tried to stifle a sob.

"Ne, Doraemon? You…you promised…you promised didn't you? That…that you'll always be there for me…"

Gian closed his eyes as tears streamed down his face. He slowly knelt beside Nobita and placed a hand on Nobita's shoulder. "Nobita…that's enough…he's gone…"

Nobita didn't even hear the words.

"Ne, Doraemon?"

Nothing.

"Doraemon?"

Silence.

"Dora…"

A tear fell onto the cat-robot's remaining left eye, followed by another.

And another.

And another.

The tears pooled at the edge of the eye, before flowing the wide cheek, and to those that saw it, it looked as though Doraemon himself was crying.

"Doraemon…"

Nobita slowly lowered his head onto Doraemon's chest, and at last, he allowed the grief to take him. He didn't sob quietly, he _wailed_, a heart-wrenching sound that tore at the hearts of those who heard it.

All except one.

"Honestly, all this fuss over one substandard robot?" said Daichi mockingly as he watched, seemingly unmoved. "If you liked it so much, we could just build you a new one, a _better_ one…"

He never got to finish his sentence as a massive fist crashed into his face, shattering his nose. Daichi fell to the ground, howling in pain. Gian stood over him, trembling with grief and rage even as tears continued streaming down his face.

"Don't you dare…" growled Gian. "Don't you dare speak…don't you dare say another word…"

"My nose!" howled Daichi, clutching his face. "You broke my nose!"

Gian seized Daichi by the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air.

"If you keep talking, that's not the only thing I'll break!" roared Gian.

"A robot…"

Nobita's quiet voice seemingly cut out all other sound, Daichi's howls and Gian's threats included.

"A robot doesn't keep watch over you all night long when you're studying or when you have a fever," said Nobita, his voice steadily rising. "A robot doesn't angry for you when someone does bad things to you…a robot doesn't give you a lecture when you do something stupid…a robot doesn't offer you help or advice when you need it most…"

Nobita paused, looking down at Doraemon.

"…a robot doesn't greet you with a warm smile when you come home from school…or with an exasperated look when you come back whining about something…a robot doesn't shoulder your burdens along with you…a robot doesn't cry…a robot doesn't feel sadness or sorrow…a robot doesn't cry when it's sad…it doesn't cry when it's happy…a robot doesn't look out for you…it doesn't stick with you through thick and thin…"

Nobita turned to look at Daichi, his eyes red from crying.

"…a robot doesn't call you, 'brother'…"

Nobita slowly lowered his head into Doraemon's chest again.

"He did all these things, he felt all these things. He cried, he laughed, he smiled, he scolded, he encouraged; everything a human would do. And not just him…_all of them_…and Doraemon…he's more than that…he's our friend…a dear friend…_my brother_…"

Nobita started sobbing again.

"…_my brother…_" he whispered.

Silence fell, no one said a word.

"There! Over there!"

Several soldiers descended the area and quickly surrounded Nobita, his friends and the surviving cat-robots.

"About time you got here!" snapped Daichi. "Now finish…"

"Shut up."

Those words were spoken by an officer who looked almost exactly like Gian. The officer pointed at Daichi.

"Arrest him."

"Yes, General Goda."

Two soldiers immediately seized Daichi and hauled him roughly to his feet.

"General Goda!" shouted Daichi. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Mamoru Daichi, you are under arrest for illegally testing destructive weapons on Japanese soil thus endangering the lives of soldiers and civilians alike and the destruction of National Heritage building," stated General Goda.

"That's outrageous! You have no proof!" snarled Daichi.

"The gunner on the Goliath-class battleship _Akebono_ has reported you," stated the general calmly. "And we have logs and reports that clearly state that no Goliath-class battleship have been authorised to be used on Japanese soil."

The burly general stepped closer.

"You're looking at life sentence, Mamoru-san," he said quietly. "Take him away." he ordered.

Cursing and shouting, Mamoru Daichi was dragged off by the two soldiers. Yagami Goda watched with grim satisfaction.

"General Goda, what about the cat-robots?" a soldier asked.

Yagami turned to look at the grieving humans and cat-robots.

_They grieve just like we do_ he thought sadly. Was there really any difference between them?

"They've been through enough," he said. "As far as I'm concern, the war was meant to end the resistance and that has been ended. Let them go."

The soldiers nodded and moved on.

Yagami stayed for awhile, watching the young man crying over a cat-robot.

"I'm so sorry…" he said softly before moving on.

DDD

The surviving cat-robots prepared a Time Machine to leave the 22nd century. Dorami, Nobita and his friends had been helping them. As the war was officially over, no soldiers bothered them. Mamoru Daichi had been incarcerated pending trial, and the company's leadership had been taken over by the owner, a kinder man than Daichi.

"Where will you go?" Dorami asked Wang.

The kung fu master shook his head.

"Anywhere's better than here," replied Wang. "We'll go somewhere to rest and heal…"

He broke off as Nobita approached.

"You could stay with us, Wang-san," said Nobita, but Wang was already shaking his head.

"There are forty of us, Nobita-kun, it'll be too much for you. I'll lead them somewhere safe, but thank you for the offer."

Nobita nodded and knelt down to give the cat-robot a hug.

"Good luck, Wang-san," he said.

"Good luck, Nobita-kun," said Wang, hugging back. After breaking away, he hesitated. "This is different from the Tin-Plate Labyrinth incident Nobita-kun…at that time, even though Doraemon was externally damaged, on the inside he was still fine, and so you could still access his tools to repair him…"

Nobita lowered his head, he already knew all this. Doraemon had been broken, both externally and internally so his four-dimensional pocket was no longer functioning. The damage is so severe that no mini-Doraemons could fix it. While most of the cat-robots had the same tools as Doraemon, apparently none of them had the Time-cloth, which was apparently a very rare gadget, not even Dorami had one. Doraemon's was still in the pocket, unreachable.

Doraemon was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Nobita clenched his jaw.

"I'll find a way, Wang-san." he said.

Wang gave Nobita a tired smile.

"Believe in yourself, Nobita-kun, and the world is yours for the taking."

Nobita smiled sadly. "I don't want the world, I want Doraemon back."

DDD

Thirty minutes later, Nobita stood with Dorami and his friends as they waved the cat-robots goodbye. Sighing, Nobita and his friends followed Dorami to the Time Machine, where a box containing Doraemon's body had already been loaded earlier.

"Nobita-kun…"

Nobita turned to look at Dorami.

"Are you sure you want to take Niisan back with you?" she asked. "I could keep him here and find a way…"

"Thank you, Dorami-chan," said Nobita. "But I'll have to refuse. Doraemon should return home with me. If nothing else, maybe he'll rest better there."

Dorami gazed at him sadly.

"You do know it'll take a long time to fix him with your era's current technological capabilities?"

Nobita smiled. "With his own efforts, Doraemon changed me from a slacker to the man I am today. He spent years doing that. How can I call myself his friend…his brother…if I could not put years into fixing him with my own efforts?"

Dorami returned the smile. "I'm glad to have met you Nobita-kun, you're a true friend to Niisan…"

Nobita shook his head.

"No. He's the one. He's always been there for me. It's time I return the favour. For a true friend."


	18. Epilogue

ARCtheElite: _I'm sorry there was that misunderstanding, I guess I didn't write it clearly enough…but there was no reversal of the government's decision, just General Goda's compassion for a beaten foe stopped him from wiping out the survivors. Again, sorry for not making that clearer in the previous chapter_.

* * *

_20 years later…_

"Tadaima."

"Welcome home, Nobisuke," greeted Jaiko, coming out of the kitchen to greet her son. "How was school?"

Nobisuke, her son who was almost identical to his father as a child, looked around for his father.

"School was fine, I got a few homeruns in today's game," Nobisuke answered almost absently, still looking around. "Is dad in the basement workshop?"

Jaiko shook her head.

"He's gone to the old house."

Nobisuke's eyes widened.

"Does…does that mean it's time?"

Jaiko nodded, smiling.

"Maybe if you hurry, you'll be able to catch him," she said.

Nobisuke dropped his bag and quickly ran to follow his father.

DDD

_Eight years before that_

He had been born about twelve years ago and when he was seven; his father had taken him to an old derelict-looking house. Nobisuke had thought that the house was scary due to its general air of abandonment and had hid behind his father as they stared at the house for a long time.

"What is this place, dad?" Nobisuke had asked.

His father, Nobita, reached around and patted his son on the head.

"This is where I used to live," he had answered.

"That can't be!" Nobisuke had cried. "It's so old and ugly! It's a ghost house!"

Nobita had chuckled at that.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Nobisuke," he had said. "It's just an old house. Come on, let's go inside."

His father approached the door and took out the keys to unlock the door but paused in front of the door. He turned to look at Nobisuke, who was reluctant to come close.

"Are there ghosts inside?" Nobisuke asked.

Nobita smiled at his son.

"No ghosts. I kept this place for only its memories…and a very old friend."

His father unlocked the door and entered, leaving it open so that Nobisuke could follow.

After a few seconds of indecision, he did.

The inside of the house was empty except for a few boxes left behind and cobwebs that had sprung up over the years. Nobisuke stopped to look into what might have been a living room, its sliding doors to the garden had been boarded up and an old dusty television set sat in one corner, forgotten. Nobisuke passed what could have been a kitchen, its cupboards empty but for several cobwebs. When he reached the stairs, he hesitated.

"Dad?" he called.

"Up here, Nobisuke," his father's voice came from upstairs.

Nobisuke climbed the stairs and only found one single room on the upper floor. Its door was open. He nearly entered but suddenly stopped, knowing somehow that this place was somewhere important and very sacred to his father. He felt frightened to step into that room.

His father looked out of the door to where Nobisuke stood, almost frozen.

He smiled. "It's okay, you can come in."

Nobisuke did, and gasped.

The room would have been as abandoned as the rest of the house, but for one very huge difference.

Strange machines and computers have been built around the room, their strange lights blinking and emitting a soft humming sound that was oddly peaceful to listen to. But what they were built around was the strangest thing Nobisuke ever saw.

Lying on some sort of metallic table, through which a multitude of wires connected it to the computers and machines surrounding it, was a very strange creature. It was encased in some sort of glass, almost like a coffin or a display glass that Nobisuke had seen in the museums before.

The creature had a round head, and a body that was almost as round. It was blue in colour. It was very short, and had it been standing, Nobisuke knew it would have barely reached his chest. Its face was wide as was its eyes. But what made it stranger was that while most of its body was blue, an arm and a leg was clearly metallic silver, the blue skin looking torn near the edges of those two limbs. An eye was completely missing, a dark hole in its place.

"Dad…is that a robot?" Nobisuke asked.

His father shook his head. "No. He's not a robot. He's an old friend…my brother."

Nobisuke stepped closer, to get a better look. Now, he could see other signs of damage around the creature, which had clearly been repaired or at least partially. Nobisuke could even see a small dent in its round body.

"Is he hurt?" Nobisuke asked.

"Yes, he was."

"Can he feel any pain?"

"No…he's been asleep for a long time."

"When will he wake up?"

Nobisuke continued staring at the creature, expecting his father's answer. When it didn't come, he turned around.

His father was looking down at the floor, his glasses in one hand, the other pressed to his face. To Nobisuke's shock, his father was trembling, and he could hear a small sob that his father could not quite hide.

"Dad! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Nobisuke cried, running to his father.

Nobita wiped his face and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry to scare you, Nobisuke," he said. "It's just that I don't know when he will wake up. That makes me sad."

Nobisuke hugged his father, trying to comfort him.

"But he will wake up one day, right?"

Nobita hugged his son and looked at his old friend.

"Yes," he said softly. "Yes, he will."

When they left the old house, Nobisuke turned back to look at it. It didn't look as scary as before, only sad and lonely.

Nobisuke turned to his father.

"Can I meet your friend when he wakes up?"

Nobita smiled at his son. "Of course you can, he'd love to meet you…only he already has."

Nobisuke looked at his father with incomprehension as the older Nobi chuckled to himself.

"Ne, Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your friend's name?"

"Doraemon."

DDD

_Back to the present_

When Nobisuke reached the old house, he saw that the front door had been left open. He eagerly entered, racing down the old corridor and up the stairs. But just before he could enter, he stopped. Once again, he felt the sanctity of that room to his father, but much more powerfully than before. He felt almost as though he shouldn't be there.

Walking slowly and as silently as possible, he peered around the door.

He saw his father, typing away at a computer, with his two Uncles, Giant and Suneo and Aunt Shizuka with her husband, Mr. Dekisugi.

Looking to the centre of the room, Nobisuke saw Doraemon, perfectly restored and even had a pair of new ears. But the cat-robot was still lying on the table, as lifeless as ever.

But there was a sense of anticipation in the air, so strong that Nobisuke was afraid to move, fearing that he might ruin it.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his father spoke.

"It's time."

DDD

There was nothing.

But then, there was darkness, yet within that darkness, he was aware. Yet, he could not sense anything, try as he might.

Slowly, however, sounds began trickling in, faintly at first, but gradually growing stronger. There was the humming and whirring of machines and computers and soon, the whispering and breathing of people.

Slowly, the darkness began to fade. He saw at first a blurry grey expanse, before his vision sharpened and saw that it was merely the ceiling, older but very much familiar.

Slowly, he sat up, the movement feeling very strange and alien to his body, causing his ears to twitch…with surprise, he reached up a rubber-ball hand to touch the strange new organ. He turned to look at where he heard the whisperings from.

He saw five people, all of them recognisable, but one more so than the others.

The face was older, the hair speckled with grey and a thick beard and moustache covered the mouth, the eyes behind the glasses were older, wiser and wearier. Yet, despite it all, he could still see the bespectacled, slightly chubby boy behind the man.

Even as the man walked forward to embrace him, he uttered the name that he knew so well.

"Nobita-kun…"

The man answered, his voice deep and rough, but he can still hear the higher-pitched, whining and endearing tone beneath it.

"Doraemon…"

He knew he was home.

"_Those dreams, these dreams, I have lots of them. All of them, all of them, all of them, you make it possible for me. You make it possible for me with your mysterious pocket_"

-Last Episode of Doraemon-

By Tajima T. Yasue

* * *

Truly, it's been a joy writing this fanfic. I'd like to thank everyone who followed this story and apologise for the long periods of absence I took for quite awhile.

Doraemon is always something that I've held close to my heart even now at nearly 22 years of age. The manga may be nowhere near as sophisticated as the ones nowadays, but it always had that magic that never fails to make me smile even now.

This story is just my feeble attempt to honour his work of Fujiko F. Fujio as well as my attempt to look at the story from a slightly more realist point of view.

Again, it's been a pleasure, good luck in all your endeavours in life


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